Stray Cats
by Sean Norris
Summary: A strange new rudie comes to GG, particularly Gum, with a truckload of trouble headed their way. Plenty of comedy as well. Final Chapter is up!
1. Wild Night pt 1

CHAPTER 1: WILD NIGHT, PART 1

The song faded out and the oh so familiar tune started up. JSR's main theme. It could only mean some comments from Professor K.

"JET SET RADIO!" the familiar voice howled. Gum bobbed her head to the music as she painted, chewing on her namesake. "That was Sweet Soul Brother by Hideki Naganuma! Gotta love that guy!" Gum stopped spraying and set her spray can on the ground. She picked up her backpack and dug around.

"We got the latest word out there on the street for all you suckas! The Rokokku Group has just made a substantial donation to the police department, for increasing their anti-vandalism campaign budget!" Gum found what she was looking for, her can of burnt sienna.

"At this point the keisatsu might as well just stamp 'Rokokku' on the back of their uniforms! Dispel any lack of clarity on who owns them!" Gum picked up the can of indigo she set down and put it back in her bag.

"Captain Onishima says that they're gonna keep increasing the severity of their anti-rudie actions until they start seeing results." Gum placed her stencil to the wall and went back to spraying.

"We're gonna see who's a poser and who's hard-core in the future. Y'all can't give up. Freedom of expression is at stake!" Gum removed her stencil and placed it elsewhere.

"Let's make a deal! You all keep painting those phat lines and I'll keep cranking out the phat tunes!" Gum went back to digging through her pack.

"The litigation to ban magnetic netrium grinding skates is making progress, so all you rudies out there better go buy some while you still can! Stock up on spray paint while you're at it, cause that's probably next on the hit list!" Gum was careful with her spraying as she added a swoosh with fine detail. Gum backed up to look at her work. She was down to finishing touches now. She was doing some moderately detailed stuff tonight. And moderately detailed for her meant extremely detailed for the average rudie. Not that she couldn't grind and bust tricks like a pro, Gum was a painter more than a skater, far and away the best in GG (also the slowest though). A true artist. She loved her gang, but sometimes she needed to get out and do some serious self expression, and on those nights, any company was a distraction. The Noise Tanks had been encroaching on Shibuya-cho lately. All the GGs were busy painting over the tags the Tanks had painted over their tags over the last few days. The others were going for speed, but it'd all be fixed soon enough, so Gum was taking her time. They'd probably end up painting over the quick-fix tags with more detailed murals in the near future anyway, so this was more practical in the long run. The GGs didn't have their own consistent mark, though they'd all go with one thing for short bursts of time. A lot of the time, they just did their own thing, their handle or whatever, as Gum was doing now.

"Heads up all you rudies, cause here's the news!" Gum picked up her paint and skated away down the subway platform.

"In the city of the setting sun, Poison Jam is still cleaning up the mess the GGs made of their pad." Gum smiled as she jumped onto the turnstile and locked her magnetic skates to the bar, carefully balancing as she removed a can of paint from her pack. It was always great to get mentioned on Jet Set Radio. It was the hottest thing in town. Gum chuckled as she thought of that day in Kogane. That'd teach Poison Jam to fill the GGs garage with frogs. Gum began to spray a quick GG tag onto the wall. The mechanized turnstile repeatedly asked for a token over and over, having locked into place and refusing to turn forward, unwittingly making it easier for Gum to balance on it.

"But what're the GGs gonna do about the Love Shockers muscling in on their turf, the city of the day?" Gum finished the final line. She backed up again to admire her work. She was pretty happy with it. She was getting tired, but she managed to keep herself together to finish without getting sloppy. It was late though... time to head home. Gum frowned. What were they going to do to get the love shockers out of Shibuya-cho?

"All right, I'm gonna hit you all with some more from our man Hideki, this is Moody Shuffle. Enjoy y'all, and I'll keep you posted if anyone needs a heads up." As she pondered, she leapt onto the stair railing and decreased the friction on her skates to grind uphill easier. Less than a second later, she heard the familiar sound of netrium skates rail-grinding echoing hers; and as they turned their respective corners, Gum and another rudie found themselves on a collision course.

In the fraction of a second she had to react, Gum came out of her Royal grind and went into a low Roc Mac, trying to get as parallel to the rail as she could. The male rudie unlocked the magnets guiding his skates and jumped, doing a sloppy, crouched forward flip over Gum, planting a hand on her helmet as he went, then landing on the rail on the other side. They both hopped down from the rail and turned to face each other.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Gum spat at the strange guy.

He closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck, making an embarrassed laugh, "Yeah sorry..." He opened his eyes and snapped his fingers as he had an epiphany. "Oh yeah... you watch where you're going too!"

Gum looked him over. His hair was dyed brown and very wild and spiky. It was mostly covered though by a brown fedora. He had classic earphones with the smaller pads, with a cord and everything leading down to a Walkman on his hip. He was wearing brown dress pants that were all torn up with a white T-shirt with a white long sleeved overshirt unbuttoned over it. The cuffs were unbuttoned and the collar up, and it was torn all the way down one side.. Written all over it were romanji she guessed was probably English. She guessed song lyrics maybe, as they were organized in what looked like verses with an underlined title above each group. Written in bigger letters was "The Weakerthans" on the back, not that she knew what that meant other than that it was probably the band name. There were scrawling lines she recognized as cursive signatures underneath the big letters. The letters were black and all over the shirt, covering it completely, sleeves, collar, everything, giving it a sort of zebra-look. His skates were appropriately black and white. Black fingerless gloves adorned his hand. He was of an average build but very toned, with handsome features. Though it was the furthest thing in her mind at the time, he was quite attractive.

Perhaps realizing what she was doing, she noticed after a minute that he was looking her up and down. She was used to guys doing it, but it still pissed her off. He smiled at her. He was trying to look charming... the fucking nerve of this guy...

"That was a nice move, busting that low grind so I could jump over you. Very slick, you must be quite skilled. Lucky thing you did that. Maybe we have a repor-" he continued.

"I was TRYING to TRIP you," Gum scowled. She couldn't stand this guy objectifying her, and being used for a handplant made her even madder.

"Better me than you, eh?" he did the same embarrassed laugh, closing his eyes and rubbing the back of his neck again. "You're a GG aren't you? I've seen you around."

Gum nodded, "I haven't seen you though. You aren't in a gang, are you?"

"Nope," he confirmed. "I was a Noise Tank and a founding Love Shocker at respective points, but right now this rudie is flying solo. I thought about joining GG, but your art sucks. Your name is stupid too."

Gum grit her teeth, "We all chose our own art, for your information, smartass. And I'll have you know that GG is a fine name." She was even more insulted now, the name GG was partially her idea.

"Is that so?" the boy did his embarrassed laugh again. "This is actually convenient, I was feeling kinda lonely."

"Well good luck with that," Gum grumbled as she ascended the stairs.

"Suit yourself..." the boy called after her. As Gum neared the top of the stairs, she heard the unmistakable rattling of a paint can being shook, and subsequent hissing. She clamored down the stairs quickly and turned the corner. She narrowed her eyes. She gritted her teeth. He was painting over her tag. It had taken her two hours to paint that tag... The paint on it probably hadn't even dried yet. And he was painting over it. He wasn't even doing a particularly good job of it. He'd made a big, boring, white blotch covering everything up, and was now drawing some sort of simplistic, child-level doodle in dull old black. Gum balled up her fist. The hair on the back of her neck was standing on end. She started skating over slowly.

"Hey you!" she yelled.

"Just a second..." the boy reached his arm back and held up an index finger. He didn't stop painting. Gum stopped a few yards away and tapped her foot. After what really was only a couple seconds, he backed away to look at the finished product. Gum looked at it too, with him out of the way. It was the face of a cat. A infantile sketch, two dots for eyes, two angles above for ears, three crossed lines for whiskers. No skill present whatsoever... But while she would never say it given the circumstances, the truth was Gum had to admit it did have a strong charm to it. What was more impressive was how fast he'd painted it. It was there in a flash, Gum wasn't sure she'd ever seen someone do a tag so quickly, even relative to the simplicity of it. She'd seen a lot of these around before on their turf. She'd seen them in Kogane and Benten too, he didn't seem to have any turf of his own. She knew from his tags that his handle was "Fink", but this was the first time she'd been able to put a face to the name. It wasn't surprising that they never caught him in the middle of tagging, now seeing how fast he apparently was. The boy turned a little and looked at Gum over his shoulder and beamed. "So?" he asked. "What do you think?"

"You painted over my tag," Gum growled.

"Oh... was that yours?" he scratched his sideburns with the hand not holding his can.

"You painted over my tag," Gum repeated herself.

"Heh heh... Sorry miss, um, Gum, was it?" he tried to remember what the tag had said before he painted over it. "It was just such a primo canvas, I couldn't resist..." He did his embarrassed laugh again.

"You painted over my tag."

"It is kinda a shame I guess... you really had done a nice job..." he laughed nervously.

Gum sized him up. She was trying to decide if she could take him. She was only average in a fight, but she was mad enough that she was tempted to start something regardless of the odds. If he was like most guys, he'd have qualms about hitting a girl, so maybe she could beat on him without worrying about a reprisal. Then again... rudies weren't like most guys.

She took out a can and started shaking it. She'd tag him... put a big "G" on him, that'd teach him... Tagging was the preferred way that rudies "fought". It often involved getting physical to pull it off. But that wasn't the hard part. The hard part was...

Fink grimaced, "Hey now, let's not be hasty..." he held up his hands defensively. Gum leapt forward, attempting to tackle him, and was startled as Fink slid out of the way. He was like a mirage... he was there one moment, then the next, he was gone. He slid around to the side and rotated and Gum was suddenly lurching at thin air. The movement was so fast and fluid it seemed unreal. Gum started tilting as she began to fall forward. She was even more surprised as she felt hands grab her and lift her back up. Suddenly she was back on her feet and spinning. She stumbled as she tried to stop sliding and turn around. Fink was standing behind her still positioned as he had been. He'd caught her... he'd stopped her from falling.

Gum's shoulders got tense. Her fist and grip on her can tightened. She roared and leapt forward swiping, spraying. Again, Fink moved like a mirage. He leaned way back and grabbed her spray can wrist and pulled. She was suddenly falling forward again... then she was stopped again. Fink was now holding her as though they were dancing and he was leaning her back in a big dip. Fink tried to put her back on her feet, but as soon as she was righted, she tried to lower her arm to spray down at him. Everything shifted as she was lifted up into the air. She was thrown over his shoulder. Fink's foot came back to kick the spray can out of her hand. Lacking anything else to do, Gum started pounding on his back feebly with her fists. Fink grabbed her behind the shoulders with one arm and across the front of her thighs. Her world span as he flipped her over and she was back on her feet rolling forward away from him. Gum turned around and took off her backpack, snarling.

"Do we really have to do this?" Fink whined as Gum took out a can of spraypaint in each hand and put her pack back on. "If I keep swinging you around like this, you might get hurt..."

"There's no way I'm going to let you go unpunished..." Gum sneered as she shook both cans up.

Fink took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then sighed, "Ok then..." he said, shaking himself, loosening up. "We'll do it this way." He was still for an extended moment before he opened his eyes, turned, and bolted.

"Get back here!" Gum cried as she took off after him.

Fink blazed up the ramp, jumping to kick off a bonito cart (much to the fish-monger's chagrin) and landing to grind across a 3 foot stone wall with a nice flat top, all while Gum followed behind him by a couple seconds. At the end of the wall, he jumped through a window that was already broken, Gum suspected (correctly) by Fink victimizing it like this frequently. He took out a bit of the glass remaining as he went through it. Gum balled up and tried to jump through as centered as she could. Finding herself in an apartment lobby, Gum saw Fink in a nearby elevator.

"Top floor, going up!" Fink chirped. "Bye bye!" he waved as he hit the close door button just before Gum could reach him. Seeing stairs nearby, Gum started to climb furiously. At the top, she heard the elevator ding and saw Fink skate out. She followed him up a short flight of stairs and a very short hallway, leading to a fire door. Fink jumped to grind the handle, pushing the door open, falling off it to land grinding on the fire escape. A quick hop put them over the small gap between the nearby water tower. Gum followed Fink halfway around the catwalk to his destination; the powerlines encased in a metal vent, winding down around the tower in a spiral. Gum felt a moment of apprehension before leaping onto the vent to follow Fink, already grinding his way down it.

After going about 20 feet down, the vent veered off the tower above the street, leading to a roof. Noticing Fink crouching to gain speed, she did the same. At the vent's end, Fink did a leap over the landing, doing a flying kite, landing on a vent on the other side of the roof. Gum made the leap, but while she hated being outdone, did not do a trick so as to reserve speed. The vent went across another street, the lights of the skyline sparkling below them. Fink leapt off the vent to grind across a balcony rail, Gum nervously following.

He jumped onto a street lamp, then from there to jump to land and grind on one foot across a telephone wire. The wire shook and Fink visibly wavered a bit as Gum landed on the wire, clearly he was not used to two people being on the wire at the same time. Disembarking onto a fire escape, they followed it down, a tight squeeze on the inside, next to the wall. Fink jumped and kicked off a Ramen cart to land on top of a parked van, then took a great jump to do kick off a wall to make a dangerous vault over a high barbed wire fence. Gum's eyes clenched shut during the risky move. She was ill prepared for the impact with bushes on the ground. She luckily put her hands in front of her face just before she ran into a waist high fence to flip over it and land on her face.

"Oh, sorry. I guess you couldn't have expected that..." Fink offered a hand to help her up. Gum made like she was going to grab his hand, then lurched forward and tried to punch him in the crotch. He seemed ready for this and backed away quickly, her fist barely grazing him before falling flat on her face again. Gum growled as she got to her feet, then froze as a strange realization came over her.

She looked at her knuckle, then at Fink, "Are you wearing a cup?"

Fink did his embarrassed laugh again, "Yeah, you'd be surprised how often people try to hit me there."

"Not likely..." Gum grumbled. She looked around, they had come all the way to the Gekijomayin area.

"FIIINNNK!" an angry muffled voice bellowed from above them. The two looked up to see three Noise Tanks standing on a movie theater awning. They looked very angry, particularly the one in the middle, who had a fist raised and was shaking with rage.

"Uh-oh..." Fink looked nervous as he glanced around, looking for the best escape route.

"I thought you knew these guys?" Gum leaned to Fink's ear and whispered.

"I do, and that's the problem..." Fink whispered back. "Hey guys!" he called up hopefully. "What's up?"

"I thought you were with the Love Shockers?" the left tank stated coldly, his arms crossed in front of him.

"Well, uh, that didn't work out..." Fink laughed nervously.

"So now you're with the GGs?" the boy demanded.

"Er, uh, no, not really..." Fink stammered.

"Who cares!" the right one shouted, cracking his knuckles. "You're a traitor. How dare you come back to Benten-cho and show your face. What did we tell you? The city of the night is OUR turf, and you aren't allowed here any more. It's bad enough that you brought a GG with you, but that you'd dare to come back after everything you've done and antagonize us, trying to start trouble!" Mr. Right pointed across the courtyard to a billboard. Gum looked to see a Noise Tank's tag covered by one of Fink's.

Fink had another one of his trademark laughs, "Yeah, about that..."

"Shut up!" the angry center one finally exploded. "I'm gonna kill you for what you did to Claudi, Nova!"

"Hey Manual, be fair! Claudi wanted it, I just gave her the suggestion!" Fink showed his palms defensively.

"I know! Your deflowering my little sister turned her into a nympho slut!" the Tank shook a fist.

"Come on guys... don't be like this... Bynairi, we go way back..." he turned to lefty.

"You're dead to me man," the boy turned his head away.

"Forget it Fink!" Manual waved his hand. "We're gonna beat the Hell out of your dirty GG whore girlfriend!"

Gum blinked as she realized they meant her, "Hey! Wait, I-"

"Go ahead and try then!" Fink pointed dramatically as he slung his arm around Gum and pulled her close. "If we go down, we go down together!" he grasped her hand.

"Why you-" Gum fumed.

"We'll send you home to Shibuya-cho crying!" the right Tank challenged.

"Hey, wait a minute! I don't even know this guy!" Gum tried to pull away from Fink.

"Yeah right! Like we're gonna believe that!" the Tank waved dismissingly.

"I think it's too late for that sweety, we're gonna have to make a break for it together! But just one thing more first..." Fink trailed off. The Noise Tanks gazed intently, waiting. "Ha!" Fink yelled as he suddenly turned and kicked a nearby spotlight, which swiveled to beam right at the Noise Tanks. The Tanks screamed and cursed as their night vision goggles assaulted them with a flash of violently amplified light. "Run!" Fink commanded as he dragged Gum off by the arm to skate away.

"How did I get into this?" Gum sighed. They leapt onto a nearby curb to grind. "Oh wait, I remember, you being an ASSHOLE!"

"Less talking, more fleeing," Fink requested. They leapt from the curb onto a bike rack, following it to the adjoining rack, then jumped onto the service platform of a nearby billboard. Gum looked behind her to see that the Tanks were in pursuit. They did a wallie off the billboard to land on a single story roof.

"This is going to be hard, so time and execute this just like I do," Fink commanded. Gum tried to ask what he meant, but he broke away before she could finish. She watched him do what looked like the greatest running (well, skating) leap he could muster off the edge of the building. Next door on top of a department store was a giant mechanical octopus, which constantly recited that its prices could not be beaten. Fink landed on a tentacle, slid down it, leapt over the head to land on the tentacle on the other side. The tip curled upward and it raised just as he reached the end and jumped off. The effect was massive, he flew over a three story building and the continuation of that same barbed wire fence.

Gum looked behind her. Those Noise Tanks looked really mad... Gum built up as much speed as she could and mimicked Fink's trick awkwardly. Gum barely cleared the roof and the jump had left her nearly horizontal. She quickly righted herself by turning it into a backflip. She knew her landing, wherever that would be (for she had not seen where Fink's leap had put him) was going to be very shaky.

Thankfully, Fink was waiting for her on the gravel single story roof. As she came down, he bent on one knee and let her flow into his left arm, grabbing her at the left elbow with his right hand and stumbled with her as he braced her. Gum was confused and indecisive as to whether or not she should thank him as he got up.

"No time!" he yelled, as though he had figured out what she was thinking. They ran across the roof, then jumped down onto the windshield of a car to use it as a ramp, cracking it and denting the hood as they did. They leapt off the hood to land in the very crowded street. "That was good for your first try. Much better than my first attempt." Fink had to yell to be heard over the screaming pedestrians upset by having their stuff displaced by the two rudies skating side by side. The two leapt one after the other to land on a metal embankment, making small rabbit hops between sections. Gum looked behind her to see the Noise Tanks were still in pursuit. The first two had hopped down onto another car, cracking its windshield. As the last one, Manual, landed on it it dislocated and one foot fell into the car, making him faceplant on the hood.

"I say it's time for some Noise reduction. Let's split up," Fink pointed up ahead at the route he wanted her to take.

"What makes you think I won't just stop and explain to them that I don't know you and then the four of us can beat you senseless together?" Gum suggested.

"What makes you think they won't slap you around for being a GG in their territory anyway?" Fink responded.

"Damn you and your being right," Gum sighed.

Three bridges went across the train rails below. Fink first jumped onto the rail and ground the first one and Gum the third, both followed by one Noise Tank. Fink jumped the gap to the second, middle, bridge going straight from his, just before the first veered to the right, Noise Tank in tow. Gum and co. stayed the course and went left. The straggling Noise Tank showed up after everyone was out of sight, taking the first bridge he had seen one of his brothers initially enter.

Gum skated furiously through the streets, grinding off of whatever she could, trying desperately to think of how to lose her tail. At an intersection, Fink came rolling in from the side to shoulder ram Gum's pursuer. Before he could get up, Fink grabbed his leg and dragged him over to the side of the road. A second later, Fink's pursuer turned the corner to find his prey gone, but seeing Gum in the distance he went after her. With a flourish, Fink lashed his downed opponent with a spray of black paint, then took off after Gum and her new assailant.

Gum lead her aggressor into a circular alcove, hoping that Fink had more plans in store. As they ground around the circle, Fink rolled up behind the Tank, painting a line down his back without stopping as he went. The Noise Tank whirled and followed him going clockwise around the outlet. Fink jumped to grind high up on a ledge, then leapt across the alley to grind across a curb leading off to the side, then jumped to the side off of it to make an effective 305 degree turn and land behind his enemy, painting another line across his back. The startled man tried to turn to see where Fink was, but Gum came around and pushed him down from behind. Looking down the street, they saw the straggler was on his way.

"Leave this to me..." Fink said. Gum nodded and took off skating into a tunnel going under the block that came out the other side. Fink waited for Manual to catch up, then followed her in. Fink skated to the tunnel's side. The floor curved upward to make an effective half pipe, allowing him to skate up it, busting a method 180 backflip as he did. Manual followed suit. They skated to the other side and repeated this. Skating across again, Fink dashed at the last second and made a sharp turn and did a 560 in the opposite direction and landed right behind the unsuspecting techno-phile. As he came down, he stomped his one foot down on Manual's heel, throwing his victim to the ground. The skater heard consecutive spray can hisses, then laughing as he looked up to see Fink and Gum skating away.

"Later Manual!" Fink called back after him as he and Gum went out of sight. "Give Claudia my regards!"

"Fuck!" Manual pounded his fist against the ground. His friends skated up and helped him up.

"You ok Manny?"

"I'm fine, Basic, just... get off me!" Manual brushed his fellows off of him.

"I think he sprayed me..." Basic turned around.

"Yeah me too," the Bynairi said. "He got you too Manny..." he leaned over to the side to look at his friends back. "What did he paint on me?"

"Looks like a 'G'. Manual, you've got a 'A'. What's on my back?"

"I think it's an T-"

"God damnit!"

"They must be furious right now..." Gum wondered after Fink had explained what he had done.

"We can only hope..." Fink sighed wistfully.

"You've got a lot of nerve..." Gum said following Fink as they skated away at a leisurely pace.

"But everything turned out ok, you're no worse for the wear," Fink smirked and looked at her out the corner of his eyes. "And I saved you, didn't I?" Over the radio, a police scanner cut into the music. Professor K broadcasted policeband radio when it involved rudies, give the vandals a heads up.

"Repeat, reports of rudie activity in Shibuya-cho..."

"It's your fault I needed saving in the first place. And you still ruined my tag," Gum caught up so she was skating next to him.

"Police blockade underway..."

"Oh come on... tell me that wasn't fun..." Fink dared her. Gum couldn't help but smile herself.

"All officers report to the scene..."

"Well, aside from a ruined tag, you had an exciting night, and now you can-" Fink turned the corner and came to a stop, both in movement and his speech. A few yards down the street was a police blockade. Dozens of officers were waiting, brandishing truncheons. Standing on top of the nearest car was a little man with big hair and manly stubble in a tan trenchcoat. He held a buntline special in his right hand, letting the barrel rest on his shoulder as he held his other arm out. Dangling from his hand was a pair of handcuffs.

"...Relax..." Fink finished his thought as he grimaced.

"The two suspects are at 552nd and Lotus..."

"Welcome to the party," Captain Onishima welcomed him warmly.


	2. Wild Night pt 2

"Actually, you know I think we took a wrong turn. That animal shelter we volunteer at is this way..." Fink declared, grabbing Gums arm and turning to skate away.

"Hold it!" Onishima barked, his Buntline special flashing upward to draw a bead.

"Run!" Fink yelled, the two taking flight around the corner away from the cops. The Buntline roared its displeasure behind them. Gum actually watched a bullet go by close to Fink's head. Twangs echoed as the rubber bullets bounded off the brick wall behind them. They couldn't get around the corner fast enough for Gum's liking. They blazed down the street they'd just come from.

"He could really hurt us with that thing!" Gum complained.

"Well yeah girl, it ain't a squirtgun," Fink replied. Just before they could pass a second side-street, three squad cars fish tailed and shuddered to a stop, their drivers piling out to join the rudie chase. Maneuvering as though he were trying to walk backwards, Fink crossed his skates over as though he was side-stepping to put his momentum into a sudden, tight arc to turn around. As he whirled around Gum he grabbed her arm and swung her around him 180 degrees as though playing crack the whip, so she was facing the right direction.

"This way!" Fink demanded, dragging her behind him into an alley. Before heading in, Gum could briefly see the horde of cops from their previous direction running after them. "Damnit! We should have been paying attention instead of messing around!" The two turned up their radios to listen to the police scanner playing over FF Field's "Yellow Bream".

"Reckless skaters have entered alley between 551 and 552 Midpark. Expected to exit midway on Uematsu, Hamauzu, or Mitsuda."

The two faced each other, "3/4 Mitsuda?" Fink suggested. Gum nodded. The alley was a clean 4 way intersection, so improvisation was necessary. They climbed their way up a fire escape to the second floor. Opening a window, they climbed into a surprised couple's bed room, through the kitchen, flung open the door to the hall. Fink kicked in the opposite door and they went through the living room of a seemingly oblivious old woman, and out the window of her bathroom.

"There they are!" a private cried, pointing down the street as the rudies jumped down from the second story. The pair increased their speed as the cops took off to pursue.

"Damn 'Urban Renewal' movement," Fink griped. These crackdowns are ridiculous. The cost of these projects must be absurd. This is why I don't pay taxes." At the end of the street they prepared to turn left as more squad cars whirled around the corner. To Gum's horror, one almost clipped her and sent Fink rolling over the hood to land in a pile on the other side, cracking the windshield and sending the car careening into a lamppost.

"Are you ok?" Gum gasped as Fink got to his feet remarkably quickly but visibly dazed.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'm used to it. Come on!" he shouted, grabbing Gum and dragging her along right as the cops caught up with them. One dived to grab Gum's thigh to be dragged behind her. The officer cried out as Fink turned and sprayed paint into his eyes, the policeman letting go and curling into a ball.

"You better not have gotten any of that on me," Gum warned him.

"You're so compassionate," Fink rolled his eyes.

"Attention all officers," the dispatcher clamored. "Police dogs are being released as reinforcements. Exercise of extreme caution is encouraged." Up ahead, cops pored out of the upcoming alley.

"What's the plan?" Gum shrieked.

"Up!" Fink pointed to a bent, twisting gutter. Wheelmarks lead Gum to guess it was regularly used for this by Fink and the Noise Tanks. He let her grind up first before following. A cop grabbed Fink's ankle as he leapt but let go as he banged him jaw on the gutter and fell down as Fink grinded up it. It slowed him down though, he only made it 3/4 of the way up before he ran out of momentum and started to slide back downwards. Fink planted a foot and jumped upward, Gum grabbing his arm to help pull him up onto the roof.

"This is Onishima," the shrimp's voice squawked over the scanner. "All motorcycle units are to apprehend the suspects at all costs!" The rudies jumped to grab the rail of a roof balcony on the second story roof of the building behind theirs. They jumped down into the other street and followed it down around the corner into an alley. Exiting the alley, they turned onto a new street. As they did, a van swung around the corner, it's back to the skaters. The twin doors popped open and half a dozen snarling rottweilers jumped out.

"Back!" Fink shouted. They glided fast as they could down the street, pursued by the enraged mutts. They turned into an alley that had a barbed wire fence with two 15 foot fiberglass poles leaning against it. The two struggled to grind up the poles, which rolled in opposite directions as they went up them, uniformly falling to the ground just as the pair cleared the fence, making the 9 foot fall difficult. Fink grimaced as he banged his knee, but quickly, silently got to his feet and swung his one arm up and under and behind Gum's knees, bracing her back with the other to catch her in his arms. The dogs leapt against the fence snarling as he began to skate and continued to carry Gum, as a groom would carry his bride, until he had accelerated to a decent speed before putting her back on her feet. Gum made a mental note to punch Fink later under less dire circumstances in case any of the incidental ass and leg grabbing was intentional on his part.

"A swat team is en route," the dispatcher declared. "All officers on site should equip riot gear or leave immediately."As they headed toward the main street, they became increasingly aware of approaching sirens. As they rounded the corner they were faced with motorcycles blowing by. All except the last, which could prepare to strike, heading right toward Fink.

"Gum, look out!" Fink yelled to Gum's surprise as the cycle slowed. For as he had correctly guessed, she was the true target. The cop turned abruptly, then rose up on his back wheel, attempting to ram Gum and knock her down without running her over. Gum leaned forward and grabbed the bars adjoining the wheel, being pushed back by the bike, to the rider's surprise. She swung her leg over the wheel once it was on the ground between her legs and rolled off to the side, spraying paint on the rider's visor as she did, causing the officer to slide out and crash into some trash cans. Fink dashed over to help her up. Gum reached out toward his extended arm and expected an 'Are you ok?' as he began to open his mouth. "GUM, LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!" Fink screamed instead.

It felt as though the world was moving in slow motion as she turned to look behind her. Onishima and a veritable firing squad were marching toward them, launching grenades in front of them to create a defensive perimeter. Gum could see Onishima's five o'clock shadow and wicked glare through his gas mask, through the smoke, as he raised his Buntline. Gum felt herself being pushed to the ground as Fink stepped in front of her. In an intense moment, she watched him spasm and fly backward, blown off his feet and falling onto his back behind her. Gum and Fink shambled to each other, both desperate to see if the other was ok, when they entered effective strategic range of the grenade launchers, and seconds after the familiar "doop", they were engulfed in a storm of tear gas.

Gum hacked and choked. Nothing in her life had ever been so painful. No car collision, no fall, no bullet, no crash, no beating, nothing had ever been worse. Her eyes screamed, her throat burned. Her whole face howled in agony. She couldn't breath, she couldn't see, she couldn't feel.

"Come on!" she heard Fink cough. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the cloud.

"Prepare a squad car for transit," the dispatcher said calmly, simply. As they staggered, wheezing, blinded by bleary red eyes out of the cloud, Fink was shot close range in the stomach with a grenade itself as soon as they were once more visible, knocking him down. Toronto's 'Electric Toothbrush' was finishing up.

"Sounds like our rudie contestant friends are finished folks," Professor K lamented as he came back on the air. Gasping for air, Gum grabbed Fink's arm and literally dragged him on his back into an alley. "But hey, our hearts go out to ya guys. It musta been a long fight." The rudies stumbled out of the alley and looked down the street either way, having lost all sense of direction. At one end, a long road with a dead end. The other, another riot squad. "Sounds like the soul of the street is losing two of its best tonight," Professor K continued. There was a collection of 'doops' as they shot more gas grenades to rain down on and behind them. "Cause as we all know, the true rudie willingly stops for no one," the Professor mused.

"YAAAAH!" Fink screamed, unexpectedly charging the police. Gum unassumingly followed. The middle police fell as he tried to jump between them. The entire squad dogpiled him with their batons.

"But a brother can only take so much..." the Professor sighed. Fink groaned as he tried to claw his way out from under the living pain heap. "Well, I'll catch the rest of y'all, minus 2, tomorrow on... JET SET RADIO!" Professor K howled. Fink braced one knee as he felt a familiar hand grasp his hand and wrist. He surged forward with Gum's help, cops still hanging all over him.

The bridge was just a few feet away...

Fink struggled forward, "Come on Gum!" he gritted his teeth. They got to the bridge and jumped. One cop let go of Fink as he banged his head on the bridge railing, and the other as they hit the ground 20 feet below. Fink staggered up, looking questionably shaky and haggard. "We have to get away..." he instructed, running to leap onto a railroad track and grind, followed by Gum. They ground downhill before the cop who fell with them could get to his feet or any of the others could scurry down the bank. The incline brought the rudies some good distance as they slid into the train-car depot. They remained on the track and slid into the subway tunnel. The churning sound of an oncoming train drew Gum's attention hindward. Thankfully it was on an adjacent track. Into the tunnel, there was a 9 foot wall separating the tracks. As they skated along, the train about to overtake them, Gum heard the echo of another subway train in front of them. Around the corner up ahead, she could see the headlights of another train growing against the wall.

"Oh God, Fink, the train! We have to turn around!" Gum shrieked.

"No time!" he yelled back resolutely, clearly thoughts racing for a plan.

"What're we gonna do! We'll be-" she screamed frantically.

"Come on!" Fink demanded, interrupting as he jumped over to the next rail. "One chance... make this count!" Fink leapt to grind the wall outer wall, did a wallie, then leapt across the track to grind the divider wall, did another wallie, leapt across the track to grind off the outer wall again, did yet another wallie, and landed on top of the divider. Sliding with the awkward landing, he accidentally banged his head on an I-beam. Visibly dizzied, he wavered momentarily, but regained his stature less than a second before falling; his hand shooting up to grasp the beam and heft himself into place. Gum followed behind and grabbed his free hand to pull her up into place, just an instant before the trains roared by simultaneously. Gum slid hard into Fink, who held tightly to the I-beam with his one hand while he quickly released her hand and wrapped the other arm around her waist.

Gum pressed snuggly against Fink, quickly flattening herself against his chest, grabbing her and holding on for dear life. They sucked in their breaths and tried to hold as still and be as flat as possible while maintaining the difficult balancing. Fink could feel his left sleeve flapping madly as it brushed against the passing sub. Looking down he saw that sparks were flying as Gum's right skate barely abrased the train. Below, peering at a sharp angle he could barely see the faces of astonished passengers as they whizzed by. The first train passed then immediately after the second. They roared off away into the distance, and, in that moment, a casual observer would have seen no sign of the near-fatal accident. Fink looked back at Gum. She was shaking violently, eyes still clenched shut. He eased his grip and gently brushed his fingers against the small of her back.

He gently nuzzled his face slowly against her cheek and brushed against her ear, "It's over..." he whispered. She cautiously opened her eyes and stared deep into his as he retracted his head so they were nose to nose. Her eyes were hazy with moisture, as her supple lips gradually parted, still adorably quavering.

"You ass," she scowled, backing away (keeping a hand on him to keep her balance) and punching him squarely in the chest. "You nearly got me killed! I'd rather be in jail than dead." It was then that she noticed his face was clenched and he was stamping and cursing since she hit him. "What's your problem?"

"Bruise! Bruise! Ow! Ow!" he winced. "Pip-squeak shot me, remember?"

Gum gasped, horrified with what she had done, "My God! I forgot! I can't believe you took a bullet for me..."

"Calm down," he said, grabbing the collar of his T-shirt and stretching it down. "They're just rubber, remember?" Gum saw the biggest, worst welt she'd ever seen. It was split and bleeding all over. He looked down and frowned. "Damn blunt impact. Come on." He backed away and let go of her, then carefully hopped down onto the rail. She cautiously followed him down as he casually ground down the line. "Shouldn't have to worry about another train. Not for awhile anyway. We can take the tunnels. Where you headed?"

"GG garage," Gum replied.

Fink bit his lip, "S' long way." Gum thought and knew he was right. She was utterly exhausted. Skating back would be Hell. "Where's home? Can you crash there?"

"Center Street in Shibuya-cho," Gum sighed.

Fink winced, "Even worse."

"I can take a train!" she piped. Just then, they slid into the station. It was empty. "Oh no! That was the last train!" There was silence as they hopped up onto the platform and sat down on a bench to ponder the dilemma.

"Well..." Fink reluctantly began. "You could crash at my place if you want."

"Yeah right..." Gum scoffed. They were silent again as she considered. "You live closeby?" she finally asked.

"I'm just squatting, but yeah, it's close, and there's some semblance of a bed for you."

Gum looked around the loft. A bed was about all there was. There were three mattresses stacked on each other, some chairs spread throughout the room, and a ghetto-rigged TV.

"You can have the bed. I don't mind," Fink said as he skated over to a corner. He threw his hat to the side and took off his overshirt and balled it up to lie down on it as a pillow.

"Oh no... I couldn't..." Gum frowned.

Fink waved dismissingly, "Trust me, it's not so comfortable that it's a big thing. You're my guest, and a lady no less." He tried to look dignified. "I wouldn't feel right with having you sleep on the floor."

"Well..." Gum thought. "Why don't we split the mattresses?

Fink shook his head, "The bottom two are broken, the top one is the only one you can lay on." They both laid back down as Gum tried to think of a solution. She sighed. She felt hesitant, embarrassed, but rude enough to overcome it.

"Well maybe we could share the bed."

Fink lifted his head, "You'd feel comfortable with that?"

_"No_," Gum thought to herself. "Sure, you haven't tried to rape me yet, right?" she replied instead. Fink shrugged and went over next to her. It was a single bed, so it was going to be unavoidably cramped. Gum scooted over to make room. Though she tried not to, she conceded to lie against him, as she was afraid she'd fall off the bed otherwise. She turned to look at him. He was lying with his back turned to her, which comforted her a little.

Gum shifted and tried to settle. Gum had long ago lost interest in guys and had since come to avoid any advancing on her. Now here she was lying next to a man she barely knew. Why did she feel so strange? Because she was getting close and he might be interested? Or was it something else? What was she getting herself into... Sleep overcame Gum as she subconsciously struggled with questions she didn't really want answers to.

Gum awoke, or at least half awoke, late in the morning. At some point they had both flipped sides. She was now lying against his chest, cradled, intertwined in each other's arm, cuddling. Like lovers. Gum had always been a restless sleeper, it would be easy to assume the same of Fink. So why did it seem like something more? Gum closed her eyes and snuggled against him. It felt so good, like an emptiness alleviated. She felt warm. Comfortable. Safe. Complete. Happy. She hadn't felt this strange foreign feeling she could not name for a long time. Since back in the day, back before she was a rudie. Since back in high school, since she was just a little girl...

Small tastes of joy, like those she felt with Beat, with Rick; tastes that promised something great and substantial, but had never delivered. Ignorance was bliss, and Gum had never known emptiness till she tasted those false promises of fulfillment. The pain of such disappointment was so strong; Gum had pushed her lust, her ambition as a woman, to the recesses of her being. She had avoided these tastes and feelings for fear of being hurt again. But it had happened again, and there was no helping it. Gum lapsed back into slumber, peaceful in Fink's arms, insecurities tossed aside. She had that old taste in her mouth again, and she liked it.


	3. Various Nets and Snares

"So why Fink?" Gum asked, heartily macking on a piece of her moniker. 'Yappie Feet' pumped on Jet Set Radio's afternoon edition through their respective headsets as they casually glided down Hill Street. Fink had offered an escort and breakfast, and Gum felt like having company.

"From way back in the day. Ah, here's breakfast..." Fink broke away. He increased his speed as much as he could. Downhill, a vender was putting the finishing touches on a snocone. As he reached out to hand it to the customer, Fink blew by, snatching it from his hands, along with a second snocone which was already in the hands of the customer's daughter. The two adjusted their speed till Gum caught up with Fink, then went back to skating at a leisurely pace, crying and cursing howling behind them. "Blue or green?" Fink held the cones out to Gum. The green one had already been partially eaten by the daughter and lacked a spoon.

"Blue," Gum decided firmly.

Fink frowned, "Damn." He handed the blue over. "And blue is my favorite too. Fink tipped the cup back and drank all the excess fluid. He then sucked what was left of the flavoring out of the ice ball, took a bite of the ice, and threw away the rest, incidentally dumping it into a convertible. "Anyway, I got started defacing pictures of peoples faces. You know, I'd give them the goatee, the handlebar mustache, devil horns and tail, a pitchfork, and at the bottom I'd caption it-"

"Fink," Gum nodded, taking another bite of her snocone.

"That's right," Fink pointed to her. "Like old-school Wizard of Id. I was just labeling, but you know how tags catch on. Pretty soon, people started to think it was a handle. I didn't really have one, and it was becoming somewhat well known in my area, so I figured 'hey, what the Hell'." As Gum watched, Fink leapt up on a handrail to do an acid soul grind, then did a 540 flying kite to land on the steel awning of a building. He ground to a stop, then pulled out a can of rust-red paint as he balanced. Gum watched as he defaced the giant poster of Goji Rokokku in the fashion he had described, adding a stick figure cat to the side pawing at it. In terms of style and skill, it was nowhere near Gum's quality, but she had to admit that his tags were endearing.

And he was fast too. With the can and on skates. Mew may have been able to get up there easily enough (for Gum could have, if not less gracefully), she suspected that harder pressed, Fink would test the better skater. Fink hopped down off the awning onto the rail below, then slid off it and turned to hold his arms out to his work in presentation.

"So is there a story behind Gum?" he asked, as they went back to skating. Gum had just finished her last bite of her snocone and tossed the empty cup to the sidewalk. She took her gum off where she stuck it to her helmet for safekeeping and put it back in her mouth and shook her head, but she blushed, obviously embarrassed. "Come on... It's obviously not the obvious. Out with it!" Fink goaded.

Gum rolled her eyes, "When I was trying to quit smoking, I got really addicted to the Nicorette gum stuff." Fink laughed. Gum blushed even more, then tried to regain her composure. "I was far more addicted to it than I ever was to cigarettes. I eventually gave it up, but-"

"The name stuck," Fink nodded.

"Yeah," Gum confirmed. "Even now I have to chew regular gum or else my mouth gets antsy. Oh mother fucker! Hold up a sec," Gum requested. She stopped at a nearby building. A Love Shocker had gone over a GG mark. Gum cursed under her breath as she got out a can of paint and started to go over it with one of her own tags.

"You're really good," Fink noted. "A great artist."

"Thanks," Gum sighed as she finished up. "So were you really a founding Love Shocker?" she turned and asked as she put the can back in her bag.

"Once upon a time," Fink groaned, sounding regretful. "I joined the Noise Tanks because I'd always hung out in their neighborhood and I dug their style."

"So what happened?" Gum asked.

Fink shook his head, "Too criminal for me. Another reason I hooked up with them was that I like tech. It wasn't till after that I found out how they fund themselves, hacking other peoples' bank accounts. I for one like to keep my crime against public and coporate targets. Picking on the little guys on a grand scale seems mean to me. There was also this thing between me and the leader's little sister. The first time I kissed her she jumped my bones. Later, Manual got wind of me and Claudi being an item and... well, he was none too pleased. I had to bow out of the gang and relationship. Afterwards I was pretty heartbroken, so-"

"Along with a couple kindred spirits, decided to form a new gang, and the Love Shockers were born," Gum added it all up.

"Bingo," Fink affirmed.

"I should blame you then," Gum glared at him. "Why'd you have to pick Shibuya-cho to settle down in?"

"Well, Benten was out of the question, and if I had to choose to compete against GG or Poison Jam, the PJs are a lot meaner," Fink shrugged.

"What I want to know is how did a founder get kicked out of the group?" Gum questioned.

"Um, long story," Fink dismissed. "Anyway I haven't been too welcome in Benten or Shibuya since then. Part of why I didn't want to join GG. The Shockers probably still haven't gotten over their beef with me, so I have enough problems with them as it is. Which reminds me, good to hear that Claudi got over me. I thought about Poison Jam, even went to visit them. I am into movies. But the rumors are true, Poison Jam is the gang all muscleheads and bullies graduate to. I was a bit above their intellectual level. Besides, they're all a bunch of gutter brains. The story about them kidnapping a mannequin thinking it was a pretty girl is exaggerated, but not far from the truth."

They skated off into an alley at the end of Hill Street's slope. The alley emptied into a backstreet swallowed by the flux of development. At the end, "Sneakman" on Jet Set Radio thundered from the open shutters of GG garage. As the pair skated in, Beat and Tab jumped from their seats to greet them.

"Gum!" Tab exclaimed.

"We thought you got busted!" Beat hugged her, making her very uncomfortable.

"No, we got away after the broadcast ended," she pulled away as soon as possible. It was all thanks to Fink's help. He's damned crazy." Everyone turned to Fink, who was dusting off a knuckle, trying purposely to look as though he was trying purposely to look humble. Gum looked cross, "Of course he also got me into the whole mess in the first place, painting over my tag."

Fink froze, then did his embarrassed laugh routine, "Aw come on, it was a cry for attention."

"Fink you said?" Tab piped up. He skated over. "I've seen you around Benten-cho, haven't I?"

Fink smiled, "Probably. Props for observation."

Beat raised an eyebrow from behind his sunglasses, "You trying to join GG or somethin?"

"No," Gum began, "he's not inter-"

"Well now that you mention it, the thought had crossed my mind..." Fink spoke over her.

Gum blinked with surprise, "But you said-"

Fink nudged her and had one of his embarrassed laughs, "Well, I'm not crazy about the idea, but it's here or Poison Jam, right?" he whispered to her. Gum thought about Fink's pad and how he said he usually didn't stay there long and was looking for someplace new. She suddenly felt used.

"Well Gum," Tab turned to her, "You've got inducting authority, and you've seen him in action, right? What do you think?"

Gum sighed and shook her head, "Yeah. Sure. No application or interview necessary, his resume qualifies."

"Good stuff," Fink gave a thumbs up. "So where do I crash?" he started to skate around in exploration.

"Our policy is one of no policy. People tend to crash wherever, so any unoccupied spot is cool," Tab informed him. "We do sorta traditionally reserve the rooms with doors for, ahem, private use, so don't fall asleep in one unless you know no one is planning on using it for conjugating and whatnot." The "private rooms" were the garage office, which had blinds put up over the windows with two double beds pushed together to give the room some semblance of a domestic bedroom; and a van with the seats removed and repositioned and a pullout bed that looked as though it never got folded up. "As you can see, we all mark the place up like mad. You should probably add your handle somewhere when you get the chance." Fink nodded as he skated around looking at individual tags. The sound of a toilet flushing and the sink running drew the others attention toward the bathroom door. "That's right, you have to meet our other present member..." Tab mused. Fink wasn't listening. He was staring at a single handle tagged to a wall, his eyes growing wider. "Fink, meet Mew..." Tab motioned to Mew as the bathroom door opened up and she skated out. There was no response, and Gum, Beat, and Tab turned around. Fink was crouched down, hiding behind an easy-chair. Mew gave Tab a funny look, who shrugged, as confused as she was. Mew tried to skate around the chair. As she did, Fink edged around it, staying on the opposite side from her.

"Nova?" Mew called out. Mew tried to walk around the side in the other direction, but Fink continued to orbit the chair, keeping the poor hiding spot between them. Mew furrowed her brow, annoyed. "C. Nova!" She grabbed the chair and pulled it to the side. Fink stood up quickly and turned his back to her, whistling casually. "I know it's you Fink!" Mew crossed her arms. Fink spun around and looked shocked, as though he hadn't noticed she was in the room.

"Oh, hey Mew!" he did his patented embarrassed laugh procedure. "What's up? Long time no see..."

"Don't gimme that bullshit!" Mew spat. "Act your damn age!"

"You two..." Gum pointed back and forth between them, "Know each other?"

Mew turned to her, "From way back in the day," Mew sighed.

"But it was a long time ago," Fink piped hopefully. "All in the past, right?"

Mew rolled her eyes, "I'm not mad at you Fink."

"You're not?" he raised an eyebrow.

Mew laughed and shook her head, "No. You're right, even if you didn't mean it. It was a long time ago. Despite what I could blame you for, it really doesn't matter any more," she smiled at him softly.

Fink seemed in awe, "Wow Mew, that's real big of you."

"Yeah, well..." she submitted. "Why remember the bad? We had our good times too, and they meant a lot to me. Why taint them any more." She reached out her arms to him. Fink came forward and hugged her tightly.

"I shoulda know that if anybody'd be cool with me, it'd be you," he whispered. "I'm sorry kitten. I missed you."

"I'm sorry too," Mew breathed. "I missed you too." She pulled back enough that she could see his face. "Can we still be friends?"

"Sure," he pulled her close to hug her once more before letting go and backing up himself.

"So you're joining up with us?" Mew asked. Fink nodded. Mew smiled again, "Then I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other again." They both smiled and nodded, and there was a long silence as the two former lovers stared into one another's eyes for the first time in a long while.

"Uh..." Tab tried to break the awkwardness of standing around, uninvolved. The moment passed. "So I thought it'd be cool to show Fink around the area."

"I'll pass," Mew waved her hand. She turned to Fink, "Some other time."

"I'm kinda sore, I think I'll rest up to go out later," Gum rubbed her spine.

"Aw, come one," Fink did a quick combo of play-punches to her shoulder, "Don't be a lightweight."

Despite any goading, Gum would give no answer save no, so the girls waved goodbye as the guys skated off. Mew skated over to the kitchenette to fix herself a drink.

"Why did you keep calling him Nova?" Gum asked, gliding over. She remembered that one of the Noise Tanks had used the name as well.

Mew swallowed hard and made the whiskey face, "A nickname. Or more of a reputation, really. He doesn't really like it, at least not as much as Fink, at any rate. So many people call him by it though that it's sort of a second handle. He's even used it in his tags at times, especially when he was Love Shocker." Mew fixed herself another drink. Gum was surprised. The stuff in the fridge was usually reserved for special occasions and emergencies, and even then it wasn't like her to drink in either. Upbeat, lively, and energetic, it was unusual to see Mew somber.

"Are you ok Mew?" Gum felt concerned.

"Yeah..." Mew muttered. "...No..." she changed her mind. "...Maybe...I don't know..." Mew slouched, leaning on the counter. "I mean, it's good to see him, but it also hurts... a lot." Mew turned to face Gum, tears were building up in her eyes. "Gum... What's Fink doing here? I mean I know he's joining up, but how did he... why's he..." Mew paused, brooding. "He came here with you, didn't he?" Gum nodded in confirmation. "I was afraid of that," Mew whimpered. "Gum..." she put her hands on Gum's shoulders. "Please be careful with this guy, ok?"

Gum shook her head vigorously, "Oh no, it's nothing like that!"

Mew laughed, "Yeah right. I'll bet you've already slept with him, haven't you?"

"Mew!" Gum gasped. "You know I'd never-"

"No, no," Mew shook her head. "I know you wouldn't have sex with him. I mean you actually slept together, you know, shared the same bed. Go to sleep back to back and wake up in each other's arms."

"That was a totally random occurrence derived from necessity," Gum denied. "And he said he was sorry, and-"

"And that he hoped it wouldn't disrupt your possible friendship," Mew finished. "I'm sure he did. And I'll bet he offered to buy you some great Ramen tonight to make up for it."

"Well, he did offer..." Gum muttered.

The place is in East Benten, then he'll take you to Circle Street to show you how you can get on the top of the sky-bridge while you eat and gaze at the stars. Just watch Gum, he will. I know it," Mew predicted.

"I won't be 'tricked' into liking some guy," Gum got annoyed and defensive. "Especially not Fink. I guess he has his own quirky charm, but he's totally weird."

Mew threw her arms up, exasperated, "Fine. Never mind. I don't know why I bothered trying. She tried to talk me out of it, and I tried to stop the other two after me, and there was no stopping it. He eventually wears everybody down."

Gum patted Mew's back, "Mew... What happened between you two?"

Mew buried her face in her hands, "It was long before I joined GG. Fink taught me how to skate, he got me into all this." Gum felt somewhat amazed. She supposed that that answered the question of who was the better skater. "Gum..." Mew looked up, "You're the strongest woman I know." Gum was shocked. She had always respected Mew for being like her in strength, kindred spirits. She had had no idea that her friend looked up to her. "But I don't know if even you are strong enough for this. Gum... I... I don't even know that it ought to be stopped. Fink was the best thing that ever happened to me, but he was also the worst. I don't know that I'd want to give up the time I spent with him, but I don't know that I'd want it in the first place. He's not a jerk or anything. He's a really sensitive guy, thoughtful, caring, he'll treat you like a queen. Being loved by him is like nothing else in the world. But he's a total player. Well, he's a pseudo-player, or something. He'll fall for someone else and leave you. It happens every time. Like I said, I was warned, and I kept tabs on him after he broke up with me and watched him do it to two other girls. Chances are good that he's leaving someone to be with you."

"Why is he a 'pseudo-player?" Gum asked.

"I say pseudo because I think the nut actually does believe he's your one true love and shit when your relationship is in that stage," Mew explained. "He'll think he loves you, and it's great, it is! But he'll leave! I don't know if you should avoid it or embrace it. I just want you to know Gum. I want you to realize what's happening and walk into this eyes wide open, and decide your own path," Mew heaved.

Gum straightened up, "I can take care of myself. I won't let any man mess me up ever again. I guarantee you Mew, I give you my solemn vow," Gum promised, determined. "I will never go out with, and NEVER love Fink.


	4. Excavating Hatchets

Gum raised the chicken to her mouth with her chopsticks. She'd gotten sick of waiting for him and ordered by herself. He was thirty minutes late. Fink was such an ass. Why did he have to be so &$ing charming? She set the box of food on the mailbox next to her and picked up her drink to take a sip. He was making a bad impression, being so late to their third real date. His food was getting cold, too. She stood at the street corner where they were supposed to meet. She was sure she was in the right place, and it seemed unlikely that Fink would get lost, he had to know the Shibuya area if he used to be a Love Shocker. So where was he?

Finally, she saw him. He came over the top of the big hill and skated down towards her, fast. It was about time. What had made him so late? He was really moving fast. Really really fast. Hauling ass fast. As fast as you can go fast. And he wasn't slowing down as he got closer and closer.

"I'msorrybutImgonnahavetomakethismealtogo!" Fink somehow fit into three syllables as he blew by without stopping, scooping up his beef bowl and drink as he went by. Gum blinked as she watched him go, befuddled. Suddenly, she was startled by a loud noise. A gunshot. She could feel the bullet blow by her and watched it spark as it his the pavement, narrowly missing Fink down the road. She turned rapidly to look for the source.

Another rudie was at the top of the hill skating down after Fink, also going as fast as possible. A Love Shocker, the meanest one. Even with her bad reputation, Gum was surprised to see her speeding down the street with a .22 in her hand, firing off rounds liberally.

"Come back her so I can kill you!" she screamed downhill. "Take it like a man!"

Gum turned quickly and started skating after Fink. A car came around a corner up ahead and she grabbed it's back bumper so it dragged her along behind it until it turned, putting her almost right behind Fink. More shots were being fired once the car was out of the way. Fink was trying to gulp down his beef bowl like from a cup as fast as he could without burning his mouth too severely. He was clearly having difficulty maintaining this balance. As he finished and tossed the bowl to the side and took a drink from his cola, he noticed Gum.

"Oh, hey Gum. You may want to take a rain check on that date," Fink suggested.

"What the Hell is going on?" Gum screamed, panicked.

"Oh, her?" Fink gestured toward the Shocker with his free hand. "Ex-girlfriend. She's still a little mad at me." The cup in his hand exploded into a shower of moisture and ice as a bullet went through it.

"You're gonna die Nova!" the Shocker called down to them. Shots ricocheted a few yards from Fink's feet.

"You went out with HER?" Gum disbelieved.

"Yeah, well..." he dismissed. "Look lively, we're headed up!" They ground up the rail of a bridge leading over the street. Fink slowed down at the top. Gum wasn't sure what he was doing, but followed suit. "Annnnnd NOW!" Fink yelled, jumping off the bridge, Gum nervously following. They landed on the roof of a truck going under the bridge. "It was right after I had to leave Claudi and the Noise Tanks that I met Mace. She had just broken up with some guy. We were both lonely, heartbroken, and lovelorn. Kindred spirits, as you said. We decided to make our own gang for all of Tokyo-to's bleeding hearts." They were interrupted by more gunshots. Mace had mimicked their trick and was on top of a bus a few cars back. "Get behind the trailer!" Fink commanded, doing so. Gum complied. Being shot at, riding the Mac in this dangerous fashion, Gum was scared. A truly uncommon occurrence.

They two jumped off the truck on either side and made their way up another bridge after a short distance. The bridge lead to a playground on the bank to the side of the road. Mace jumped directly from the top of the bus onto the bridge railing, which was harder than it sounds, since it involved a rather high standing jump. Gum wished Fink hadn't taught his ex-girlfriends to skate so well, as she doubted she herself could have made the leap. They skated into the playground, Mace now in hotter pursuit. They ground onto a railing, stepping over the corner, then leapt to do a wallie off a sign of playground rules, then grinded up a swing-set support to do a massive leap onto an overpass under construction above them. The whole while, Gum felt dangerously outclassed by the other two. To Gum's horror, Mace continued to fire as they went through the playground. Gum heard no signs of anyone being hit, but still, the principle of it! There were children about! On the overpass, Fink and Gum leapt onto a embunkment to grind down the road, Mace following on the ground. Emptying the rest of her clip, Mace concentrated on cramming her few remaining bullets into the magazine.

"Anyway," Fink continued nonchalantly, "It wasn't long before we fell into each other's arms.

"She's crazy!" Gum exclaimed. "We're rudies, but there are some lines you just don't cross! People like her give us a bad name!"

Fink nodded, "Back then we felt betrayed. We were broken hearted, angry at the world. I didn't realize she was just always angry. She's a total psycho. She used to be in with a gang. Like GANG gangs. Well, I didn't want any part of that, so-"

The pair came to a stop. The highway had come to an ending and there was nothing but empty space below them. It was and 80 foot drop down into and empty drainage ditch running between sewers.

"Hmm... Shit," Fink mused. There was a succession of bangs and Fink let out an "Argh!" as two bullets pierced his right shoulder. Gum turned. Mace was concentrating. She was going to make the next shot count.

Gum took a deep breath, "Jump!" she yelled, pushing Fink off the edge as she held tightly to his arm. She aimed to land on the basin ledge, cut 30 feet or so out of the fall, maybe they'd just break their legs... Fink instead pulled her forward, angling them horizontally. Their skates pressed against the basin wall and Fink crouched so they slid down it like a half pipe. The save was successful, or at least it should have been, but the impact was too fast for Gum, and she fell, dragging Fink down with her. They tumbled to a stop, badly winded and battered. Mace jumped down to land smoothly, as Fink had attempted to. The pair got up and froze as they saw the gun pointed at them. Fink looked grave, putting an arm in front of Gum, pushing her to the side.

"Oh Nova, Nova, Nova..." Mace shook her head. "You always were a slippery Fink. I could probably shoot at your slippery ass all day and hit nothing but air. But I'm down to my last bullet, and I know one way to hit you for sure..." Mace chirped, turning to aim at Gum's heart.

"No!" Fink yelled, stepping in front of her. The shot was fired and Fink fell onto his back and crumpled.

"Fink! No!" Gum cried.

"Ahaha!" Mace laughed. "Oh Fink, you always were a sucker for the ladies, right up to the end!" she mocked. She threw her head back to laugh some more as she turned and skated away victoriously.

"Fink! Fink, speak to me! Tell me you're ok!" Gum cradled him in her arms.

"I... think... I'm...o...k...urgh!" he grunted as he tried to move. They looked at the wound, his hands covered in blood. "It's... bleeding.. pretty bad, but... I don't think... she hit anything... vital..." he managed, struggling to his feet. The hospital was close. It'd be quicker to walk then to contact them and wait for them to get a gurney down there. Gum slung an arm under his good shoulder and helped him stagger toward the service stairs.

"Why'd you do that? What were you thinking?" Gum scolded him.

"It was... my problem... wouldn't be right... if you got shot..." he wheezed.

"You fool..." Gum sighed, "Don't you get it? She was pointing at me, but she was always aiming for you."

"I know..." he said. "But I couldn't take the risk... You mean too much to me..."

"Fink..." Gum turned, her jaw dropped a little. "You said you'd liked me, but..."

Fink looked very serious, "But you didn't realize I meant that much?" Gum nodded. "Yeah, well..." he sighed. "I didn't really want to say it. I've only known you a couple of months, it seems crazy to feel this much for someone you haven't known that long. I didn't want to spook you. But yeah... You already mean the world to me... I'm pretty sure I love you... " he looked her in the eyes.

"Fink..." Gum murmured. They closed their eyes and their lips embraced. He took from her kiss more deeply than Gum could ever remember experiencing before. They went back to walking up the stairs.

"So what're we going to tell the doctors?" Gum broke the silence after awhile.

"We'll tell them I fell on this bullet and it lodged itself in me," Fink decided. "Then I fell backwards onto these other two bullets."

Gum laughed.


	5. Inevitably Rising Stakes

Gum locked up and spasmed, then went limp. She hummed with satisfaction.

Fink lifted his head up from her lap and licked his lips, "Mmm... Minty-cool flavor." Though exhausted, Gum couldn't help but laugh. A knock came from the door. Fink sighed. "Whaaaat!"

"We're rollin lovebirds. Let's go," Garam's muffled voice responded from the other side of the door. Gum sighed. She got up and started adjusting her clothes. Fink was already putting his headphones. He tossed Gum her helmet as he adjusted his hat how he liked it, slipping a stick of Wrigley's spearmint into his mouth. Garam and Yoyo awaited the couple as they exited the office.

"Bout time," Yoyo complained.

Fink chewed loudly on the gum, "Where are Tab, Beat, and Mew?"

"Took off when they saw your door was locked, told us to wait for you guys," Garam responded.

"Coulda waited till we were done..." Fink scowled.

"Hey, they just said to wait for you, they didn't specify for how long," Yoyo quipped.

"God only knows how long it would've taken for you two to crawl outta there by yourselves," Garam put his hands behind his head. "You're cutting in on our time. Where's your gang mentality?"

Fink and Gum kissed deeply as they pulled their gloves on. They pulled away and filled their backpacks with paint, Gum chewing on the new piece of gum she came away with.

"Honey, you know I chew wintergreen," Gum whined.

"We're out," Fink slung his backpack on. "Remind me to boost you some later." Everyone looked at each other. They were all ready.

"Ok. Let's go."

The others turned as the second group rolled up, "No Noise Tanks yet?" Tab asked them as they approached. Fink shook his head. "Hmm... how strange. Wonder what's keeping them from coming out. Well, the plan was that we draw them out and keep them busy while you guys paint, but I guess we just all paint till they show." The first group went back to painting while the new arrivals found some canvasses of their own. Gum finished her first tag, painting it right under one of Fink's quickies. She skated over to start a new one, next to Mew.

"So how're things with you and Fink?" Mew asked. The girls were always close friends and confidants, but they normally never talked about Fink. Gum could tell it hurt Mew more than a little to see/think of them together, although she was still friendly with him.

Gum blushed, "We're totally happy together," she admitted. "I really love him."

"So I noticed," Mew mused, simply.

Gum frowned, "Yeah, you're not the only one." Gum looked to Beat, who was casting an annoyed glance at the couple's graffiti together. "I can't stand the way he leers at us..."

"Yeah, well, you have to expect that from an ex," Mew pointed out.

"I don't see why, he's the one who broke up with me," Gum muttered. "He's such a jerk. I wish I'd never gotten involved with him."

"Well, you can't just undo old mistakes like that," Mew sighed. "Especially not big ones."

"He has no right to be jealous. I wish he'd just disappear," Gum griped.

"Well, he's gonna be so long as things are the way they are. He's a founder along with you and Tab, it's not like you can kick him out of the gang. 'Sides, we've never voted anyone off the island, it's not the GG way," Mew cited. "It would go against our policy of no policy to kick someone out now, especially over personal squabbling." Fink waved and the girls turned. He had drawn a large heart around him and Gum's marks, with a little heart in-between the two. Gum laughed and smiled at him. He skated off to paint elsewhere.

"I love him so much..." Gum whispered dreamily. "He makes me so happy. I've never been this happy my whole life. For the first time I feel content, fulfilled and beyond." She turned to Mew, "You shoulda been there. It was so sweet what he did for me the other day... I'd told him before how one of few things I regret about dropping out of high school was that I never got to go to my prom. He took me out to the high school, and we climbed up onto the roof. They were having a dance, and we could hear the music from outside. He had set up a table with a couple of plates of food he stole from a French restaurant. He had me change into a fancy dress and he changed into a tux. He had a corsage and everything for me and we danced together all night evening." As Gum talked, Mew's eyes got wider and wider, a look of pain and anxiety slowly intensifying. A look of fear washed over Gum's face as she noticed the state Mew had degraded to. "What?" she laughed nervously. "What is it?"

Mew started to tear up, she grimaced. She suddenly lurched forward and grabbed Gum by the shoulders.

"Gum he's going to break up with you!" Mew cried.

"...What?" Gum became flushed.

"The prom thing, he did that with me, he does that with every girl! And then without fail, he splits up with them some time in the next couple weeks! It's the last big sweet romantic gesture he makes before he dumps you..." Mew became subdued, depressed. "How long have you two been together?"

"Since mid last August..." Gum recalled.

"That's just over four and a half months. Gum, he's never made it to five," Mew professed.

"He hasn't?" Gum squeaked.

"No," Mew shook her head. "Me and him only lasted three and a half."

Gum was frozen. It took awhile before she could react. She swallowed hard.

"...It's not gonna happen," she shook her head. She tried to look confident, but her shaken expression belied her true feelings. "He loves me... I'm not just another one of those girls..." she insisted.

"Gum..." Mew stared sadly into her eyes. "I'm sorry... This may even be longest he ever stayed with a single girl... but it's over. That dance is always the last."

"No..." Gum continued to shake her head. "Those other times were mistakes... he didn't understand how he really felt... This time is different..."

"He tells all of us that!" Mew shouted.

"No! You're wrong!" Gum shouted back, clenching her eyes shut. "He loves me! We're in love! Just because he didn't love you doesn't mean it won't work out for us!" Gum skated away hurriedly, catching everyone's attention. Gum skated till she could stand it no more. Facing the end of an alley, she started to sob and choke. It couldn't be true... she'd watched for it. She couldn't, she wouldn't, be used again. He wasn't, this wasn't, like the others. She fell to her knees. Could it really be true? Could she really be that stupid?

"Gum?" she heard Fink call behind her. She turned as he rolled to a stop. He must have followed her. He looked worried. Gum tried not to cry, but her throat seized up, she couldn't talk. Her eyes were welling with tears.

"Fink, I-" she choked, when they suddenly heard the police scanner over The Reps' 'Bout this City'.

"All officers to Benten Circle. Fence them in on all sides. Repeat, anonymous call reports unruly adolescents in..." the scanner continued.

"So that's why the Noise Tanks haven't shown up, they called the cops on us instead! That's just playing dirty..." Fink gritted his teeth. "Wait, where are we!" Fink looked around frantically. "Shit! We're right by the 17th precinct! They'll all go right by us!" In the distance, wailing sirens could be heard approaching.

"Well, we're fairly obscured," Gum wiped the tears from her eyes. "There's a good chance no on will notice us." A squad car passed by the alley. There was a loud screeching of tires as it slammed on the brakes.

"Damn, so much for that..." Fink grabbed Gum's arm and took off back out of the dead end. They peeled around the corner and away from the car, which had pulled a savage U-ey.

"Hold it right there!" the megaphone blared as they skated into a thin alley across the street.

"Where are you going? Shibuya-cho is south of here!" Gum yelled.

"I know, so we're going East. They'll be expecting us to go back to Shibuya," Fink replied.

"But you know Benten and I know Shibuya," Gum cried. "We're right on the border of Kogane-cho, neither of us know Kogane that well, we'll-"

"We'll still know it better than the Keisatsu, let's go!" Fink closed the issue. Out of the alley they jumped up on a railing that turned and led down stairs away from the buildings back onto the next street. They skated down the street and the reached a T-intersection as they neared the river side. As they rounded the bend, a squad car sped by, obviously on it's way to meet the others. It spun out to pursue the new targets, but the back wheels spun to far and crashed into the sheet metal fence separating the street from the river bank, one wheel suspended in air as the car rocked temperamentally. Fink let go of Gum's hand and did a tight circle to turn around, he built up speed, then put his foot on the bumper and pushed as he neared the car, transferring his momentum into it. The car inched backwards, then began to gradually tip, then accelerated to tilt at an alarming pace before tilting and falling 20 feet down into the water.

"Yeah! Let that be a lesson to you, bitch!" Fink called down. The pair jumped as the sound of gunfire filled the air. They searched frantically for either the source or cover. Fink pointed above them as he skated toward Gum. Three men were firing Sten Mk 2s at them from a nearby roof. A passing car caught bullets, tearing holes in the hood and windshield and popping a wheel. It spun out to a stop and the driver fell out, frantically scrambling in his rush to run away. The rudies rolled over the hood and ducked behind their new shield.

"Martial Law has now been declared..." Gum heard over the radio.

"I don't think those are rubber bullets..." Fink winced. "Where did those guys come from? How did they get up there?" The couple heard an indistinct repetitive noise coming from somewhere.

"They got further license of force for the Urban Renewal project with the Rokokku group's backing. I'm always telling you that you have to watch the damn news!" Gum scolded. The gunfire was endless, the marksmen just reloaded when they ran out of bullets. "How much ammo could those guys have?"

"Damn Rokokku group controls this city! The whole Urban Renewal program is just an excuse to squelch individualism and self expression!" Fink shook a fist at no one in particular. "We can't stay here..." Fink searched frantically for an escape route. "If they hit the gas tank, we're-" Fink suddenly stopped, turning an ear outward.

"What?" Gum tugged on him. Fink put a finger up to silence her as he concentrated. "Oh no you didn't..." Fink muttered to a non-present subject. The repetitive sound grew louder. "Oh I know you didn't..." The sound intensified as the source raised up into view from behind some buildings. "I know you didn't send a helicopter after us!" he cried as the helicopter started to circle them, drawing a bead. "GO!" Fink pushed Gum forward as the minigun opened fire. The bullets tore up pavement and rattled against the car till the gas tank took a fatal hit and the car burst into flames, blowing a few feet into the air from the explosion.

The shockwave knocked the rudies forward as they hit the deck. Gum cried out. Fink scrambled up and tried to pull Gum away with him, but he stumbled. Gum had gotten to her feet, then cried out and fell back down again. Fink turned and saw why. A large shard of aluminum from the car had struck her as it exploded. The burning hot piece of jagged metal had buried itself deep into her flesh in her left uppermost butt/thigh region. Fink stopped and tried to help her up slow, but a bullet from the firing squad struck the same leg in the front, looking deep and central. Gum fell again and Fink discarded his idea and instead grabbed her and dragged her, feet draping on the ground, toward the nearby alley. As they absconded, a bullet struck the toe of his right skate, shattering the hard plastic up to the buckle. In the alley, Fink laid Gum out to examine the wound.

"Oh God Fink! It hurts! It burns!" Gum screamed, thrashing in agony. Fink grimaced. The explosion had showered them both with flak, imbedding little metal pieces all over their backsides. He could feel a particularly painful burning in his right shoulder and left side where shards about a third of the size of the one in Gum's leg had hit him. He noticed a piece about two thirds the size of the leg wound had buried itself in her helmet, and may have easily been fatal if not for the head gear. Fink tore off his headphones, knowing he had to work fast. Snapping the cord off, he used it to tie off the wound.

"Can you move?" he looked to her. His trick wouldn't do much good, it'd stop the bleeding a little, but the leg was a big area and it needed a lot of blood. Gum tried to stand, but the leg would barely respond, offering no support at all. The wounds were too deep and critical. Though the flak had somewhat cauterized the wound, Fink wondered what sort of ligaments and nerves might be severed. The bullet was lodged deep inside her, and may have struck bone. Fink feared that if she lived, there might be permanent damage or she might even lose the leg if he didn't get her to a hospital quick. Fink slung and arm under the back of her knees and one under her back, picking her up. He skated off as the helicopter floated around to aim into the alley. He heard a missile unlatch and the hiss of the engine behind him.

"You've gotta be shitting me!" Fink yelled, speeding up. The alley had a sharp turn in it, and the missile slammed into the wall as Fink went around it, exploding before he could turn the second corner. A speeding wave of smoke flooded the area. They exited the alley coughing. Fink took Gum far over to the side and set her down. He speed-skated across the street and ground up a wire and onto the telephone line, just as the helicopter cleared the two-story. Fink leapt up and grabbed onto one of the helicopter runners, his enemy oblivious to his presence. He hefted himself up, then edged to the front of the runner. The helicopter found Gum and turned toward her. The minigun leveled at her as Fink put his foot on it, pushing it to the side. The frustrated pilot tugged on the control stick as it made ugly grinding noises as its only defiant response. He looked up, shocked to see Fink wrapped around the windshield. Balancing on the minigun and holding on with one hand, Fink covered the glass as quickly and thoroughly as he could. He jumped off and fell as he hit the ground, but was otherwise unharmed. He picked himself up from the pile and skated over to Gum and went to pick her up. As he did, the wall behind them violently exploded. They looked down the street to see a tank rolling towards them, crushing parked and abandoned cars as it caterpillared menacingly along. "Aw come on! That's just not fair!" Fink complained. "It's time to GO, yo." Fink went to pick Gum up once more.

"Fink, you really do love me, don't you?" Gum asked weakly.

Fink froze in a dead stop staring at her, "Gum... I can't believe you'd ask me that." The helicopter fired blindly at them, a bullet winging Fink's arm. He continued, seemingly unaware. "Of course I love you. You're my everything. You always will be."

"So you won't leave me, right?" she whimpered.

"I'm never going to leave you," he insisted. A tank shell exploded nearby, sending chunks of cement flying, one striking Fink in the head violently. He picked up his displaced hat and put it back on, unflinching, ignoring the blood pouring from the wound. "I'd sooner die than ever leave you," he uttered.

Gum smiled, "I'm glad." She suddenly became nervous. "But I'd rather not have you prove that right now..." she motioned toward the deadly impending tank.

"Oh. Right. Doom. Gotcha," Fink snapped back to the situation. He turned and helped Gum climb onto his back. The helicopter tried to land, not realizing it had drifted over the river. The pilot jumped out just before it sank. A tank shell had a near miss, going by right next to Fink's head, threatening to take it off as it passed by. Gum straddled her legs around Fink's waist as he grabbed the underside of her knees while she wrapped her arms around her neck.

"Hold on..." Fink cautioned. He took off across the wooden bridge leading to the slummy part of Kogane-cho. He winced and closed his eyes as he plowed into a screen door and ripped it off its hinges. The surprised family shrieked as the rudies rolled through their dining room/kitchenette, knocking their table over as they went. "Best hit the deck!" Fink suggested to the civilians as they sped through. He braced once more as he slammed into the rice-paper and paneling wall and burst through it. In the adjoining house a shocked topless changing teenage girl watched as the skaters came through her bedroom wall. "Better get down honey. Ooo, nice rack." Fink squatted and ducked down as the tank lined up with the doorway, archway, hole, and other doorway, and fired another shell. Soaring above Gum's head, it went through the doorway and blew open the outer wall, Fink skating through. Fink looked down both ends of the street and noticed an open manhole surrounded by construction barriers.

"Perfect!" Fink declared, taking off toward it. He dropped Gum down into the hole, then followed. They slid down a long pipe leading to a big open area with a long fall into the deep sewer water below. Both surfaced, spitting and gagging. "So am I brilliant or what?" Fink beamed.

"I hate you so much right now."

"Bitch, bitch, bitch." They both laughed, then lightly gave each other a closed mouthed kiss. "Come on," Fink motioned his head. "Let's get to a hospital. God only knows how infectious this shit is."

Back topside, the tank rolled to a stop on the wooden bridge. The top popped open and Onishima stuck his head out and looked around.

"Damn!" he pounded his fist. There was a loud cracking as the bridge spontaneously gave out and dumped Onishima and the tank into the river.


	6. Left and Leaving

Everyone laughed at Fink's joke. It was a lazy sort of day. They were all lying about as Guitar Vader's 'Magical Girl' played in the background. Someone called out, catching Gum's attention. Someone was outside their big window. They'd said something, but she hadn't been able to make out what it was. Many of the others turned their heads to look at their disturbance, but Gum was closest to the window and the only one to go check it out herself. The two strangers greeted her in more words she didn't understand as they came face to face. Seeing them, she understood why.

They were occidental. She couldn't understand what they were saying because they were speaking some western language. Probably English, they were probably American. She thought she could make out a few scattered words, but not enough to make sense of anything they said. Gum had slept through most of her English classes in school, barely passed each year. She never had known much and she'd forgotten what she had known. So all of this was gibberish to her.

It was a guy and a girl, rudies. The guy was a very large black man, in black pants, overshirt, and fisherman's hat and a yellow undershirt. He had a gold chain around his neck with a big golden yen symbol hanging from it. His skates were black and gray with yellow wheels. He was carrying a big, ghetto-blaster boombox on his shoulder.

The girl had dark hair with a white clip in it, in black capris and haltertop. On her exposed midriff, it could be seen she had some symbol tattooed around her naval in black, and another red symbol tattooed on her biceps. She had a black belt with silver studs and a skull buckle and black fingerless gloves. Blue lipstick drew visual interest to her beautiful features. Her skates were black and light grey with red wheels.

The girl said something to her, maybe asked her something.

"Um... ok..." Gum looked off to the side. Fink got up and skated over to her, grasping her around the waist and spinning around her before coming to a stop looking out the window at the rudies. He held Gum close as he opened his mouth and said what Gum recognized as "You speak English?". The strangers' faces lit up. They started speaking quickly in English, Fink talking back to them. Most of the others made their way over to the window. Everyone started talking in English, leaving Gum confused and in the dust. Some of the others were speaking slowly in broken sentences, but everyone was at least conversing a little. Except Gum.

What surprised Gum the most was Fink... He talked quickly and fluidly. It seemed as though he was totally fluent. She wasn't sure, but it seemed to Gum that he was even speaking with an American accent (or lack of accent, or whatever). Everyone was laughing periodically, particularly the Americans and Fink. Fink was telling jokes, like he always did... Humor was one of the hardest things to interpret when speaking in a foreign language, and he wasn't skipping a beat more than he usually would. Gum suddenly felt alienated... and she was getting annoyed that Fink didn't seem to notice. She felt a pressure in her chest. Tab said something and motioned toward the side of the building the door was on. He must have been inviting them in, because they said something before skating away toward the entrance.

"Fink..." Gum held onto Fink's arm and remained still as he tried to skate over to the door with the others.

"Yeah hon?" he stopped to look at her.

"What's going on?" she frowned.

"What now?" Fink blinked.

"What's everyone saying?" Gum tugged on him.

"Oh..." his eyes got a little wider. "You don't speak English?" Gum shook her head. "Aw... I'm sorry sweety..." he put his hands on her shoulders. "Their names are Combo and Cube. They're from America. The Rokokku have been skulking around their turf lately, covering up their graffiti. The goons started trying to kill them on sight. Then their friend Coin disappeared, and they found his record collection all smashed up. They found a tag they think was from him before he got kidnapped saying to go to Tokyo-to. They just got into town and thought they'd need some help so they're looking to set up some connections. They came to us first since we don't really have a theme they'd need to fit in with. Come on..." he span around her and tugged on her arm now. "We need to talk to them some more," he pulled her toward the center of the room where everyone was congregating now that Combo and Cube were in the door.

"Do YOU really have to talk to them some more? Can't you let the others handle it?" Gum tried to remain planted where she was.

Fink furrowed his brow, "Why are you being like this?" He was starting to get visibly irritated.

"I... I just feel left out is all..." Gum pleaded.

Fink glared at her silently for a minute before his expression lightened up to a smile, "Hey, don't worry about it." He tugged on her more gently. "I'll be your interpreter."

Gum continued to frown for awhile, staying where she was before her expression softened as well, "Ok," she smiled.

The two skated over to where the others were talking and Fink joined the conversation. He translated what everyone was saying, and occasionally translated a comment from Gum into English. At first this kept him too busy to have time to say much himself. But as the conversation went on, he started to make time. At the expense of translating everything for Gum. Cube said something long and Fink said something back. Cube went into a long string of words again.

"Fink..." Gum tugged on Fink's arm again. "What did she say?" Gum whined.

"Oh... she said the Rokokku probably were looking for a particular record, Cube and Combo only have one piece," Fink explained. Gum felt an aching pang in his heart.

"She said more than that..." Gum frowned disapprovingly. "What else did she say? And what did you say back?"

Fink opened his mouth to tell her, but he stopped and turned to add a comment in English to the others' conversation, prompting a laugh from everyone.

He turned back to Gum, "Oh... nothing important. Just pleasantries, chatty stuff." Before Gum could comment, Fink jumped back into the conversation again. Gum waited for him to go back to translating, but he didn't. He started to take an active part in the conversation. Gum realized he was forgetting about her... or ignoring her. Fink said something to Cube, and she said something back, and they both laughed. They continued back and forth like this for awhile. As it continued, Gum realized it... he was being charming. And then...

A sharp pain was building in her chest. It could have been nothing. It could have been her imagination. It could have been something else. It could have been just kidding around. But for whatever the reason, Cube smiled and said something to Fink in a sultry way, and she shot him a look with bedroom eyes as she said it.

Gum started to work herself up, "Fink!" she yanked on him hard.

"What?" he was startled.

"You're ignoring me! You said you'd be my interpreter!" she huffed.

"Oh..." Fink looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. "I was just getting caught up in the conversation, and my mind sorta wandered. I'm sorry sweety..." He looked genuinely embarrassed and sorry. But that wasn't enough for Gum anymore. "We're pretty sure Coin smashed up the records himself, and he maybe sent the one the Rokkoku were looking for to Tokyo, to somewhere where Cube and Combo would be able to find it that the Rokokku wouldn't.

"Ask them exactly what they want from us," Gum demanded. Fink turned and asked, and Cube replied at great length with a pleading look on her face.

"They want us to help them search, and help them 'vade the police and Rokokku if things get ugly," Fink explained.

"Tell them it's none of our business," Gum crossed her arms.

Fink frowned and turned to say it. Cube and Combo looked disheartened, as did some of the others. Cube replied sheepishly.

"She said they were hoping we'd help our brother rudies in need," Fink replied. It was clear how he felt about that from his expression. Whose side he was on.

"Tell her that rudies help their fellow gang comrades, not just any rudie off the street," Gum spat coldly. Fink turned and translated. "Tell them that Americans aren't even real rudies," Gum narrowed her eyes.

Fink scoffed and shook his head, "I'm not saying that."

"I want them to hear my opinion!" Gum shouted.

"You're being really rude in a bad way and I'm not going to have any part in it!" Fink shouted back with authority, a stern look in his eyes. Gum's angry expression broke to one of obviously being hurt. Never in the whole time she had known him did Fink argue with her like that. Fink shook his head again and turned to go back to talking. Gum waited for a long time as they talked till Fink turned back to her.

"Tab's decided that we're inducting them into the gang," Fink informed her.

"And how do you feel about that?" Gum looked at him sadly.

"It's not my decision, it's Tab's," Fink defended himself.

"But you want to help them, don't you?" Gum whispered.

Fink looked pained for awhile before responding, "Yes," he finally said.

"So you're against me," Gum bit her lip. Fink hesitated again. "If it were up to you, you'd induct them too."

Fink had to think for awhile before he could speak, "No," he finally said. "If it were up to me I'd do what you wanted."

"But this is what you want, isn't it?" Gum was trying not to cry at this point.

Fink, was silent a long time as he looked away from her, "Yes," he finally looked her in the eyes.

Gum looked away and tapped her foot, "If we're going to induct them, they have to be initiated. We have to test them," she finally stated calmly.

"Gum..." Fink sighed. "Is that really necessary? They seem really cool..."

"We haven't even seen them skate. Rules are rules, we have to have standards," Gum insisted quietly.

Fink sighed and looked away and was silent for awhile again, "Ok," he finally agreed. "Fair is fair."

"Ok," Gum nodded.

"So Gum..." Fink looked at her out the corner of his eyes as they skated along. "What do you have in mind for the test?"

"You'll see soon enough," she didn't look back at him as she led the way.

"We're letting you choose the test for us," Fink turned his eyes back to looking in front of him. "It's only fair to tell us what you're planning."

"You'll see soon enough," she repeated coolly. After skating awhile, they came to a stop on an overpass. They were above the playground directly below it next to the busy street. "Ok," Gum started, "I want them to jump off the highway rail to land on the swingset, then grind across that to jump onto that other swingset, then jump off that to land on that traffic light bar, then jump off that to grind up the walkway bridge stairs rail, then jump across that to cut the corner halfway up to land on the bridge fence." Fink crossed his arms and stared at her. "What?" she asked.

"That's a hard run Gum," Fink said calmly. "A lot of sharp turns and at one point going uphill is going to slow one down a lot. It'll be hard to maintain enough speed to make the final jump."

"It's too dangerous to protect them if their lack of skill leaves them a liability," Gum straightened herself out and tried to look poised. Fink stared at her a long time in silence again.

"You go first," he finally said.

Gum's mouth dropped open a little, "W-what?" she stammered.

"I want to see you do it first," Fink explained simply. "Demonstrate it, so they know exactly what you want them to do."

Gum's heart started to race. She stood frozen for a good while. Finally, she collected herself.

"Ok," she nodded, looking determined. Fink gave her a dirty look, but she skated away before she could see it. She turned and prepared herself to take off.

"Gum..." Fink sighed. Gum started skating. "Gum!" Fink shouted. Gum jumped up to grind across the highway rail. "Gum don't!" Fink outstretched an arm towards her. Gum made the jump to land on the swingset. She heard Fink curse behind her as she made the second jump. She transferred over to the traffic light, then jumped at it's end to land on the bridge rail. She was slowing down a lot. Gum gritted her teeth and made the final jump. She touched the rail... but only with her left foot, and only between the first two wheels. She tottered and fell backwards, downwards. Down toward the busy street 20 feet below. She grabbed the rail and hanged on for dear life. There was a whooshing sound as each car sped by below her. The rail was not good for this task and her grip was slipping...

Finally, she started to fall. Gum closed her eyes and tried to prepare for whatever was about to happen to her. She was snapped back into the real world as a hand grasped her wrist hard and she jerked to a stop. She looked up. Fink was on the rail, squatting and reaching down to grab her arm, to catch her. He wavered trying to balance the counterweight as he tried to pull her up. Gum reached up and grabbed his arm with her other hand. Then she felt someone else grasp her other arm. It was Cube... She was balancing on the rail next to Fink, helping him haul her back up. She'd made the jump Gum couldn't pull off...

Fink and Cube fell backwards to land on their asses as they towed Gum back high enough to pull herself up. She climbed onto the bridge to look down at Fink and Cube lying on their backs panting. Gum reached down and Fink grabbed her arm as she helped pull him back to his feet. Fink turned to help Cube up. Then he turned back to Gum. His eyes were burning...

"Stupid Gum! That was really stupid!" he yelled.

"I'm sorry..." she looked away and rubbed her elbow.

"You could've died!" Fink lectured angrily.

"I'm sorry..." she repeated herself. "I guess I'm not in peak condition yet since my leg injury..."

"You couldn't have made that jump in your prime and you know it!" Fink prodded her in the chest with a single finger. He was furious... He turned away, disgusted, and skated off, followed by Cube, who looked behind her at Gum, stunned, before turning back to look ahead of her.

Gum didn't say a word all the way to Kogane. Fink, on the other hand, had been talking to Cube the whole way over. He didn't once look back behind him at Gum. Fink and Cube smiled and laughed. He'd cheered up quickly, but only by putting Gum out of his mind...

They were heading for the dump... Poison Jam's home base. It was the most logical place to get rid of something, and Poison Jam kept anything interesting they found. They looked down at the yard in front of the maintenance building. Six members of Poison Jam were skating around outside.

"If the Rokokku want this thing so bad, why don't we just burn the piece we have and call it done with?" Gum nagged.

"We don't even know what they want it for, and we may have to use it to barter for Coin's freedom," Fink explained. "So-" he turned to the others. "Are we clear on the plan? You and Combo distract Poison Jam while Cube and I search their pad-"

"Actually, why don't Cube and Combo distract them while we search their pad. Unless you're afraid of 3 to 1 odds. Think you can hack it, honey?" Gum goaded Cube. Cube had no idea what she said, and Fink gave her a more pleasant translation, but Cube clearly caught the real tone, looking confused, not knowing what had brought such animosity upon her. Once Fink had finished, Cube nodded, and her and Combo took off. Gum and Fink watched as they skated right by Poison Jam, who looked at each other, stunned, before dashing off after them, grunting, growling, and howling like animals. Gum started heading over toward the facility once they were out of sight.

"What the Hell is your problem?" Fink demanded. Gum turned and tried to look innocent, though it was obvious what he meant. "Why are you being so antagonistic?"

Gum crossed her arms and turned her nose, "Don't know what you're talking about."

"That jump was way too hard. You picked the hardest trick you could think of. You WANTED them to fuck it up!" Fink prodded her solar plexus.

"So?" she was indignant.

"So?" Fink ground his teeth. "So you're being a bitch!" Gum's jaw dropped, her heart sank. Never, ever, had he even shown a sign of thinking of calling her that. "And you coulda got someone killed!" Fink scowled and skated into the building. Gum stood frozen for awhile before she slowly followed him in.

The building was a mess. It was annoying that Poison Jam never cleaned any of their trash up, considering that all they'd have to do is shovel it outside. There was an innumerable amount of crows, ravens, and cats hanging around. There was a huge stack of tapes and DVDs stacked by a massive plasma-screen TV and deluxe entertainment system with surround sound. They must have had every horror movie, B and otherwise. There was also an unsettling amount of porn.

They looked in uncomfortable silence. Suddenly, they heard voices outside. Gum opened her mouth and looked to Fink for a plan. He had already jumped into action, grabbing a sheet and skating over to Gum. He draped it over them and they dropped to the ground. Gum started to yelp as she fell on a beer can, but Fink muffled her mouth with his hand.

A rudie with a werewolf mask and gloves skated in, "I don't see anyone Jason," he growled.

A skater dressed in a Freddy Kruger costume but with a Scream mask skated in behind him, "I'm telling you, I heard about some Americans in town looking for GGs. Their showing up has to be part of a GG plot. I know they're around here somewhere."

"So you said," a rudie in corpse makeup with his hair done up and bolts in his neck skated around the room, plowing through the trash as he went. "But we came back in case they were in cahoots to see if they were a distraction while GGs crashed our pad, but we're here and I see no cahooting," he muttered.

"They could be hiding..." one in a 700 yen cape and plastic fangs noted.

"Better look around..." one with a fake arrow in his head and fake blood all over decided. The rival rudies started to graze the area, kicking trash around.

"Now what?" Gum whispered.

"Don't know..." Fink tried to stay still as he could. They lay frozen. Gum bit her lower lip.

"You don't like her better than me, do you?" Gum breathed. Fink moved his eyes to look into hers without turning his head.

"You don't trust me..." he was aghast. Gum took her eyes away, but gave no response, ashamed. "That's what this is about? Sixth months we've been together, and you don't trust me?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Gum started to cry. "You won't leave me, will you?" Fink looked away, and didn't respond. "Please don't leave... you won't, will you?"

"Now isn't the time to talk about it," he muttered.

"Will you?" she persisted. As she did, a skate rolled over her hand. The white sheet rose up, shrieking and flailing in the rough shape of a person.

"GHOST!" Poison Jam all shrieked in unison. By the time Gum and Fink emerged confused from the sheet, Poison Jam was long gone, having fled it terror.

Fink cocked an eyebrow, "What a bunch of tools," he murmured. "Come on, let's leave now before they realize no one would haunt this dump and come back," he started to leave.

"Fink?" Gum called. He turned. She was still on her knees, tears streaming down her face.

"I said now. Now let's go!" he barked. They rolled out the door, and were immediately pulled behind cover by Combo and Cube. They peered out from behind their hiding spot of piled up barrels. Men in black suits and sunglasses had beaten Poison Jam badly, and were loading them into big black limos.

"Eh! You like that Count Chocula! Want some more!" one yelled as he savagely kicked the vampire on the ground. He kicked him in the stomach and back before he balled up, then stomped him across the face repeatedly, breaking his nose.

Another had overalls and a lizard mask with foam-rubber claws covering his hands and skates. A suit pulled off his full crash helmet and tossed it to the side in a pile of ripped off masks. A jagged impression in the back of the mask caught Fink's eye. The men tossed the last two boys into the limos in a pile and closed the doors. One walked over to an Arabic man in the same clothes as the others but with white head-wrappings.

"None of them had it on them. Shall we search their hideout?" the suit asked the Arabic man. The Arabic man was leaning, his back against the nicest limo, a cigarette in his hands. He worked the cigarette between his wrappings and took a drag, then blew out smoke.

"Nah," the foreigner muttered. "If they've hidden it, we'll find out where from them later." He flicked his cigarette away and uncrossed his legs to stand, walking over to the passenger side of the limo. "C'mon, let's go." The black garbed men piled into their limos in twos and drove away. The rudies emerged cautiously. Fink picked up the crash helmet and wedged his fingers between the helmet and the mask, removing a shattered record piece. Cube held it to theirs. It matched perfectly. They put both in their pack and prepared to skate off.

"Fink?" Fink turned. Gum was still in the hiding spot, now sobbing. "Please... Tell me you're not mad... Tell me we're ok..."

Fink narrowed his eyes, "It's not safe here. We've got to go," he responded. The two Americans gazed confused, not comprehending the Japanese couple's conversation.

"Please..." Gum repeated. "I need you to tell me... Please... Fink..."

"Let's go," he instructed, turning his back on her.

"Fink..."

"I'm sorry, I feel bad," Cube told Fink. "Is she ok? Did you and your girlfriend have a fight?"

Fink shook his head, "Don't worry about it," he answered her in English. "And she's not my girlfriend."

Gum opened the door to the office slowly, carefully. Fink was looking through the blinds into the other room. The others were drinking and partying and celebrating their new members. Fink didn't turn to acknowledge her as she came in. As she shut the door. She stood there sheepishly, Fink paying her no heed.

"Are you sleeping here tonight?" she finally squeaked.

"That depends. Are you sleeping here?" he asked, still not turning to visually acknowledge her.

"Fink, I-"

"I know how insecure you are Gum," he turned to pierce her with his stare. "I know that better than anyone. If you were just jealous, even very jealous, it would be one thing. But that's not it. You don't trust me Gum. And if you don't by now, you never will. You don't trust me, you don't believe in me. You don't love me. I'm just security to you. I'm just a possession." He looked down at the ground. "You don't care about anything but keeping me. What I mean to you, what you're losing, isn't really important to you deep down. You just want to keep me. I thought you loved me Gum. I thought we were two parts of the same whole, that we shared one heart. But you didn't really love me, and if I were really connected to you, I would have known that. So I guess I must not have loved you either." He shook his head and looked out the window. "So what I'm saying is, I was wrong. I'm sorry," he choked. A tear ran down his face. "I thought I loved you, but I didn't. I was wrong, and I was wrong when I said I loved you. I fucked up. It's all my fault, really."

Gum mouthed his name.

"It's over Gum. I don't know what to say other than that there are no words for how sorry I am that I hurt you," he whispered, still staring out the window.

Gum's eyes welled with tears. She sniffed and choked, then began to sob loudly. She left the room and quickly made her way over to the van to shut herself alone inside it to cry. Combo watched her go by, then looked to Fink. He was leaning against the wall, staring off vacantly into space. He skated over to him.

"Hey, are you ok?" he asked, worried.

"No," Fink shook his head. "No, I'm not."


	7. Stripes

Gum grumbled as she painted over the Rokokku posters. What a pain in the neck. She wished she could get her hands on whoever kept putting the damn things up over their tags. She turned as she heard Cube laugh. Fink had his arms around her and said something teasingly. Gum had come to feel grateful that her English was shoddy, it made it much easier to ignore what was said between the two. Still, every now and then she could make out the word "love" as it caught her ear. She hated it when she heard her laugh when Fink would do/say one of his undoubtedly lame-brained but sweet things. It  
drove her crazy to see them so happy.

Gum felt an arm wrap around her stomach and a hand squeeze her ass. Beat had crept up behind her and was whispering sweet nothings in her ear. That was exactly what they were, nothing. The words sounded like she felt, hollow, empty. The hand rubbing her stomach slid down to below her waistline. It wasn't so much that she wanted to get back together with Beat as she didn't care enough not to.

"Have you got any brown?" she ignored whatever Beat had been saying. Beat shook his head, for as she knew well, he didn't carry any. "Be a dear and go borrow some from one of the others," she blew him off. He skated away grumbling. Mew slid up beside her, trying to look casual but obviously feeling sorry.

"What's up?" Mew probed timidly. Gum sighed. "That good huh?" She looked away toward Fink and Cube. "I know it's hard..." 

"I feel like shit..." Gum breathed. "I feel violated. I feel tarnished... I should never have gotten back together with Beat... I was just a little girl, only 16. Rick was my first boyfriend, my high school sweetheart. I liked him, I thought I loved him. I let him have me on homecoming night like so many other girls. I didn't want to, but he didn't care, so I did it anyway. I regret it so much now." Gum shook her head. "These little mistakes... They hurt so much. They ruined me. The things I wish I could go back and redo the most, I can't. I'm just marred with these big scars. I was devastated when he left me. In retrospect, I liked who I wanted him to be. Who he was was nothing. Just some faceless creep who deflowered me."

"I couldn't finish school. I left and met Beat, formed GG," Gum recapped. " It was the same, when I think of it, I wanted so badly for this guy I liked a lot to be perfect for me. In the end, I wasn't anything to him either. After that I just gave up. Lots of girls at many times have sworn off guys, but I held pretty true to it. I just became hard. They all became the same to me, I couldn't see any of them ever being any good. It seemed so hopeless, like putting myself back out there would inevitably lead to hurt." She mused. She gazed across the street at Fink, playing with Cube.

"He told me once that I was his oyster," Gum reminisced as Mew listened intently. Gum ceased in her tagging as she thought aloud. " 'A pearl is a scab', he told me. It starts when an impure outside object, like a stone, makes its way in and injures the oyster's sensitive insides. It infects, and the oyster seals it off. The pearl is a precious scab. He said I had built up something beautiful inside me from my life, and didn't realize it. I built a hard shell to protect myself, to keep other impurities out. But the harder the shell grew, the more tender and vulnerable I became inside of it. He was right. I wish I had met him sooner. It would have been easier. I guess I ought to be glad I met him when I did and not later in life."

Gum tried to focus her eyes on him, as though trying to spot some critical detail of his being, "He knew me so well, and you know, I think he was right. We didn't share one heart, I feel like I don't know him at all. But it didn't matter," she determined. "I didn't care who he could be. I loved who he was, for the first time, no matter who that might have been. For a twit, he's very wise," she noted. "He sees right through everyone. The only person he, or anyone else, was always unsure of was himself." Gum thought for a moment. "Yeah," she decided, "I think he can see through himself." Gum went back to painting. "Just he can't understand what he sees therein."

Gum shook her head. "Fink felt like a lesson more than a scar. But one of those lessons where maybe ignorance is bliss. I feel somehow empowered, somehow better about myself and the world. And yet at the same time, I feel more helpless and the world looks more hopeless than ever. I love my memories with him so much, but it makes me ache to have him back, and I just can't see things getting better, things ever being good again. Let alone stay that way," she felt a little teary eyed.

"Oh Gum..." Mew comforted, turning her around and hugging her. "I know... I understand." Gum felt lucky to have a friend like Mew, who got her so well. Mew always knew how she felt, what she wanted. "They'll never treat us right," Mew whispered. "Maybe..." she trailed off. "Maybe we should... we can... only rely on each other," she exhaled slowly. Gum could feel Mew's heart beat faster, she was now breathing heavier. Why was she nervous? Gum was about to ask Mew about it when she felt her friend kiss her on the neck. The hairs on the back of Gum's neck stood on end, she became rigid. Mew kissed her again, lower on the neck, seemingly cautiously, as though getting a feeling for whether or not she enjoyed kissing Gum. She kissed her again tenderly, then started kissing her up her neck passionately.

Gum was blown away, she tried to speak, tried to object, but words had left her. Her mind was blank, she'd been shocked right out of it. Right then, nothing could have surprised her more. Mew shoved Gum's back against the wall and started to excitedly kiss her up the side of the face.

"I've always envied your beauty..." she murmured between kisses. "But now, I _admire_ it." The kisses lead up to Gum's ear, and she began to suck on the bottom part of it. "We can satisfy each other..." She caressed Gum's back. "I _want_ you..." She bit down lightly on Gum's earlobe.

Control suddenly came back to Gum's body and she tried to push Mew away, but she resisted, pressing her little body against Gum's. Gum tried to speak, but was muffled as Mew began to kiss her on the lips. Gum resisted at first, but found herself savoring the kiss. It was like being outside of her body, watching like it was a movie or something as something else possessed her. Their mouths opened and Gum's tongue danced in Mew's mouth, danced with Mew's tongue.

Control once more seemed to flow back into Gum. She tried to push Mew off her, but Mew ignored and overpowered the attempt as she continued to kiss Gum. Gum shoved Mew back, hard this time, and slapped her across the face. Mew raised a hand to the rosy blotch on her cheek. She seemed surprised at first, but her expression quickly became cocky and playful. Gum had hunched back against the wall, breathing heavily. Her eyes were wide and her face seemed scared and panicked. She stood, shaking for a moment, then turned and skated away. Mew said nothing, but watched her go, same cocky expression on her face.

Gum got the message. 'Take some time. Think about it. You'll come back.' Gum skated away in a daze, watching Mew over her shoulder. She hit the curb and tripped. Fink and Cube turned as she stumbled next to them, sweating and looking frightened.

"Are you ok?" Fink cocked an eyebrow. Gum opened her mouth and started to respond (she actually didn't even know what it was she was about to say) when Cube interrupted.

"Son of a bitch..." she breathed in wonder. Gum and Fink turned to see what Cube had noticed.

Fink furrowed his brow in disbelief, "Is that-"

"Poison Jam?" Gum pondered. Indeed, Jason and Wolf were skating just down the street. They were methodically putting up a Rokokku poster over where Cube had just painted over one. Strangest of all, neither had on their hat and masks. On their head was a metallic skull-cap with an antenna on the top. They had big goofy grins on their faces and their eyes were wide open. They seemed to stare off blankly into space directly in front of them as they worked. Down the street, they could just barely make out the rest of Poison Jam going over the rest of the graffiti the GGs had just painted over the Rokokku posters with more posters.

"Well I guess that answers both where they've been and who's been going over our marks..." Cube scratched her head. They'd been wondering how the Rokokku had been getting to all the hard to reach marks only skaters could normally get to.

"What the Hell are they doing?" Fink watched in amazement. "I've never seen them go out without their masks before..." The three stepped backwards as Wolf and Jason skated over to give them room. They proceeded to begin plastering over the tag Fink had just been working on right in front of them, seemingly oblivious or totally indifferent to their presence. "Hey bro..." Fink tapped one on the shoulder. The rudie seemed not to noticed. They finished up and moved over to the nearby mark Cube had just finished. "Well don't that just beat all..." Fink places his hands on his hips. Yoyo skated over to one of the drones, hard at work.

"Yo homes, what's with the headgear?" he asked. Wolf ignored him. "Bitch, you'd best listen to me, or I'll make your ass listen..." Yoyo threatened, pulling out the stun gun he'd been carrying since he took a bad beating a few months ago.

"Yoyo, don't!" Fink tried to stop him. He was to late. Yoyo pressed the device against the boy and sent a powerful electric current through him. Wolf convulsed, then fell down, sparks coming from his helmet. Jason reacted as soon as Wolf was accosted, dropping everything to punch Yoyo in the face. Yoyo stumbled back into a wall, holding his bloody nose. He was startled, but regained his composure enough to try to shock him. Jason grabbed Yoyo's hand and the stun gun held within and squeezed until the device broke and Yoyo's fingers snapped in multiple places. Yoyo cried out and gave Jason a hook to the face with his other hand. Jason's head turned with the blow, but otherwise did not move, his body and face unflinching. He turned his head back to Yoyo, same stupid grin on his face, and wrapped his hands around his neck, lifting him up off the ground and slamming him against the wall. Tab grabbed Jason's shoulder, but the boy backhanded him into a no parking sign hard enough to break it in half. Gum suddenly noticed the music on Jet Set Radio getting softer as Professor K started to speak.

"Heads up all you rudies, we're picking up a weird transmission. I think it's that weird gang that's been causing trouble lately. I know it ain't the keisatsu, but I'm hookin you up anyways."

"-as been interference from Shibuya based group X teens. Maintenance team is required immediately. Perform maintenance on damaged Y unit and eliminate all adolescents. Attempt to bring in Bantam immigrants for questioning," the GGs heard over the radio, with Deavid Soul's "On the Bowl" on in the background.

Yoyo struggled to break free of his assailant's grip, then kicked him in the groin. Neither attempt yielded any results. Cube picked up the no parking sign and T-balled the back of the boy's head. The square metal sheet broke of the stick, but the Jason seemed not to notice. Cube gaped at the broken sign, astonished.

"Unreal..." she awed. "It's like he feels no pain..."

Fink rolled up behind Jason quickly and professional-looking. He gave a quick jab to a point at the base of Jason's neck. A minor seizure seemed to wrack the man's body. His back fluxed and his shoulders locked outwards, releasing Yoyo, who fell to the ground painting.

As soon as Yoyo's fist hit Jason's face, all the other Poison Jam members dropped their gear and were now rushing toward the GGs. Combo rolled over, having set his Jam-box on a nearby but safely-far-from-the-fray curb. The first Poison Jam member rolled up to Beat, who sprayed him in the eyes with paint. He reflexively shut his eyes, but continued to fight as though perfectly sighted anyway, punching Beat, then throwing Mew over his shoulder as she tried to hit him from behind. Garam charged the next one and tackled him at the waist. The two slid backwards and crashed through a glass window into a store together.

Tab kicked high as one rushed him, hitting him under the chin with his heavy skate, sending him to flop flat on his back hard. He immediately, robotically, got up and tried again. Tab gave him a hard side kick to the chest, which caused him to fall back onto his posterior, only to get up unfazed once more. Tab balled his hands together and struck with a mighty swing to the head. The Poison Jam member merely turned back, blood pouring from a split above his now black eye all over his face, which was still frozen in its ridiculous look. Tab rotated and struck the rudie in the solar plexus with a savage back-kick, knocking him to the ground. Tab tried to do a crescent kick, bringing his skate down on his neck, but the Poison Jam member caught his foot and twisted it, knocking him to the ground. The PJ stood up, still grasping Tab's foot. He spun, swinging Tab around in a circle before releasing him, sending him sliding into the curb. Gum jumped onto the PJ's back, but was shrugged off. Cube went in for a sneak attack, but he turned and grabbed her like he had eyes in the back of his head. He picked her up by the waist, raised her above his head and threw her.

"Gum, crank the radio!" Fink yelled as he punched the painted one in the neck, causing him to fall to the ground with the same goofy smile but mouth now stretched open wide gasping for air involuntarily. Gum picked herself up and dashed over to Combo's beatbox and turned up the volume all the way, making it deafeningly loud and carrying it closer. Combo reached over and grabbed one's head in one of his giant hands, it failed to act in time to do anything about it. Combo smashed the boy's head brutally into a wall face first, sending chips of stone and rock dust into the air as the bricks cracked. Gum realized Fink must have guessed they had some sort of sound based radar and were now partially blinded by the noise. Combo's attack had failed to even dent the antenna of the skull cap though.

Fink turned to the one that had thrown Tab, Gum, and Cube. He noticed the whites of his eyes had red running through them. "_The ventricles_..." Fink thought to himself. "_He's tearing his capillaries. They must be pushing their bodies to the max to burst the blood vessels in their eyes_..." He pulled his arm back for a punch, then ducked low, stepping in and rising up as he swung, turning what even an expert would have perceived as a thrust to the face into a brutal hook to the ribs of his side-waist joint.

Combo lifted up a skate and brought it down on one's shoulder, knocking him down to smash his face against the ground. Garam's opponent climbed out of the window, glass shards all over him. Garam followed him, and spun him around and socked him in the stomach, then picked him up by the collar and threw him, face scraping against the pavement. One had snuck up behind him though, and picked him up and slammed him into the ground with a suplex. Combo turned to standing clothesline one to the ground. Another jumped on his back, wrapping his arms around his neck, another clinging to his left arm. Combo roared with fury and batted them off like flies.

Fink threw one he was done with to the ground. Another came out of nowhere, it seemed to Fink, and started choking him. Fink wrapped his arms around his attacked and locked his hands and reversed his grip, flipping his palms away from him. He groaned as he bear-hugged the man. There were successive audible pops as squeezed ribs snapped, till the fighter spasmed and his arms went limp, and Fink let him slide from his grip to the ground.

Gum was amazed as she watched the grossly outnumbered Fink and Combo fight on, with everyone else tapped out, Combo not even seeming to feel his opponents attacks and no one being able to land a telling blow on Fink. Suddenly, Gum heard a groaning behind her. She turned and saw the Poison Jam with the disabled headgear stirring. Gum, Mew, and Tab skated and crawled over to him.

"Hey! Get with it!" Tab began lightly slapping him in the face. "Pull yourself together man!" The PJ's eyes fluttered and rolled around while he moaned.

"Where am I? What happened?" he began to rouse.

"You and your friends have been going berserk. What's wrong with you?" Mew asked.

"What?" he wondered blankly.

"They're brainwashed..." Gum concluded.

"What? Conditioned? Like the Manchurian Candidate? No... I don't want to assassinate symbolic-JFK..." he murmured.

"Snap out of it!" Tab slapped him hard a few times. "Who did this to you?"

"Golden Rhinos..." he held his head. "The Rokokku group... the Rhinos are just part of the company..."

"Well shit, we coulda figured that out on our own!" Tab griped.

"Goji wants... the record..." he continued. "He want's Tokyo-to and... the world... wants to be the best... the posters... Goji wants to take everyone's spirit... take away all our individuality... He-"

Suddenly, tires screeched as black luxury cars skidded to a stop. Cool, professional looking men in immaculate black suits and sunglasses stood up and exited coolly. Poison Jam immediately stopped and stood at attention.

"Get the others!" a Rhino demanded. Poison Jam went to work collecting its fallen members.

"Hey, hold up!" Fink called, rolling up to a suit. "You're the creeps who've been scaring everyone off the streets. What's your problem?"

The man chuckled, looking down as he adjusted his glasses. Then, in a motion so quick no one else saw it, there was a flash of light by his hand. As quickly as it happened, it ended. In an even faster movement, Fink grabbed the man's arm and twisted it behind his back, pressing down to slam his face against the hood of the car. There was a knife in the man's hand... The other Rhinos seemed stunned to see their comrade outdone, and quickly reached to withdraw weapons. Fink wrenched the shiv out of the suit's hand and kneed him in the stomach, crumpling him to the ground, brandishing the blade for combat.

"Fink, look out!" Gum cried as she noticed a red dot of light dancing around near Fink, getting closer to his heart. Fink's knife was a blur as he moved it and caused a loud twang as he deflected the bullet coming at him, throwing the blade from his hand. Fink glanced up to see a dark silhouette on a distant roof. Another Rhino came at Fink with a knife, but Fink blazed toward him and grabbed his arm and whipped around his back, grabbing his other arm. He put a skate on the man's back and pushed while he pulled his wrists. There was a pop (or more accurately, two simultaneous pops) as both the man's shoulders dislocated. He wrenched the man's knife out of his hand. The red dot of light danced around the GGs, moving toward Gum. They scattered as a warning shot hit the ground.

"Get outta here!" Fink yelled at the others, turning toward them and pointing down the road. He turned and threw his knife into the hand of another Rhino, who dropped his M5K screaming. The others needed no more instruction, they scattered like a bad cartoon effect. Only Cube was slow to leave, stopping to take a long second look before reluctantly skating away. Gum was the only one to stay, almost too scared to move. She lay frozen on the ground from where she'd jumped to the side. She just had to help somehow, yet she felt so helpless.

"There's a kid here begging to get himself killed," Gum heard as she watched one use his headset. "Send reinforcements."

There was a pause before a voice replied, "Assassin #5 is on his way. Assassin #4 should already be nearby. Be careful, he's in one of his moods."

Gum finally picked herself up and skated off, looking determined. Fink felt relieved to finally have her gone. Fink grabbed another Rhino and pulled him in front of him as he saw the red dot drawing a bead. The bullet tore through the Rhino to lodge itself in Fink's chest. He tossed the Rhino to the side to tussle with another. He watched out the corner of his eyes as the rest of Poison Jam loaded their temporarily liberated comrade, the GGs only informant, into a limo, kicking and screaming, then piled in themselves with another Rhino before speeding off.

"Hey kid!" a weaslely voice called out over Deavid Soul's 'Miller Ball Breakers'. Fink blinked in surprise as he fought on. "That's right, I'm talking to you, punk. The one in the silly Al Capone hat," the weaslely voice taunted. "I've just set a bomb somewhere in this city, and very soon, it's going to go KABOOM! How does that strike you, eh?"

Fink muttered curses as he finished slapping around the last assailant, then ducked behind a limo as another bullet nearly clipped him. The sniper turned as the roof access door opened and Gum came skating out toward him. He ejected the shell and started to load another, but gave up on the idea and tried to deck Gum with the butt of the gun as she drew close. She ducked, then kicked the gun from his hand, landing on the roof of the taller building next door. The sniper jumped off the edge of the building and started scurrying down the fire escape. Fink looked up to see Gum waving at him. He smiled and gave her a thumbs up, then turned to the unconscious Rhinos. He padded them down, and took two colts and the M5K and put them in his bag. As he picked up another colt, he heard a familiar voice above him.

"Hello child," the Arabic man called down to him sternly from the seven story building on the other side of the street. The man did a forward flip off the roof and landed in the street softly on his feet.

"Whoa..." Fink breathed.

"I'll have the record now..." the man asserted plainly.

Fink put a game face on, "Get lost, ya freaky yuppie." He tightened his grip on the colt. #5 slowly pulled out a cylindrical rod, about 15 inches in length. Fink flew into action. Like a pro, he turned his profile to the man a tapped the clip in a lethal spread. 5 was a blur as he swayed back and forth, weaving through the bullets with ease. He drew his arm back and swung, and what Fink could only recognize as a wave of force swatted the gun from his hand. Fink stepped back slowly, genuinely worried and unsure of what had almost hit him. Gum watched from above, mortified to see Fink backing down from a fight. She broke free of her trance and headed for the door. Fink continued to back away, taking one step for each #5 took toward him.

"It's terribly inconvenient to fight you. I have to worry about damaging the vinyl further. Why don't you had it over?" the man held out his hand. Fink's eye twitched from the pressure as he sneered. The man narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses. Like lightning, he drew his arm back and swung downward. Fink watched more closely as he jumped to the side. The rod was actually composed of countless tiny metallic segments, coiled up tightly under extreme pressure. When swung at intense speeds, it stretched to become a sort of whip. It came down on the limo behind Fink, making a sonic boom as it broke the sound barrier by over 700mph (faster than tornado speeds). The effect was devastating. It was as though another car had fallen on the vehicle.

Fink looked from 5 to the car and back again as he continued to step slowly. The two were now sidestepping around each other in a circle. #5 lashed downward diagonally and Fink ducked and slid to the side as the whip ripped a fire hydrant from the ground and flung it out of Fink's peripheral vision, instantly shattering a mailbox. He continued the motion to spin the whip twice above his head before lashing diagonally upward, tearing a swath through the cement wall of the building behind Fink as he skated to the side. Water rocketing into the sky from the fire hydrant hole rained down on the two as a fine mist. Fink started to skate backwards, bobbing to the left as a sideways swipe smashed the entire side of a bus halfway in, and to the right as a downward blow crushed the pavement into chunks of gravel. An upward diagonal blow sent a parked car flipping backwards, landing on the car behind it. A backhand downward diagonal strike bent a lamppost into an acute angle and nearly swatted Fink like a bug. Fink glanced behind him, then turned and bolted. #5 moved like speed itself. Fink had to dive to the ground as a backhand swing nearly clipped him. The man ran faster than Fink's top skating speed...

Fink scrambled up and dashed to his goal. Piano movers had tied a pulley to the roof to heft the baby grand into the 30 story sky scraper. Fink shoulder rammed one mover and elbowed the other as he wrapped the rope around his arm. Loose, the piano began to plummet after he untied the secure, sending the crew running for cover as Fink was pulled quickly upward. Fink unwrapped his arm and held on with one hand as he approached the roof. At the last second, he let go, stopping the pulley from slicing his fingers off and tossing him upwards. He grabbed onto the edge of the roof and started to heft himself up. As he got to the top, he looked over the edge down below. 5 was gone. Fink skated to the other side of the roof and looked down into the alley below. #5 was doing triangle jumps between Fink's and the neighboring building.

Fink cursed, and started skating away. In seconds, 5 was up on the roof. Fink leapt onto a guywire leading to a building 2 stories shorter across the street. As he ground down it, he removed a Colt from his bag. As he reached the other end, he shot the wire, severing it. He turned to look at 5, who puzzled him by continuing to run toward the edge. As he reached it, he jumped, doing another flip to land in front of Fink. The most Fink could do was gasp and stumble back. 5 pulled his arm back, and at the same time Fink tripped and fell through a skylight, which was curiously already broken. The whip plowed into a brick chimney, obliterating it. Fink moaned over his aching back from the bad fall. As he started to get up, he heard a soft landing next to his head as #5 jumped down into the room. He struggled to get to his feet as #5 walked coolly around him.

"I'm very impressed," 5 confided in Fink. "You're everything they said you were. I must admit I didn't believe them, I didn't expect you to make it here," #5 mused coolly. "You're quite slippery. I wasn't holding back, you know. I was trying quite thoroughly to hit you. You're no normal man... who are you?"

"I... am... Fink..." Fink groaned, managing to get to his knees. "Nova... if you must."

"Hmph. Fine. Don't tell me," #5 shrugged. "I just want your piece of the record."

"I'd die... first... you creep..." the injured rudie forced out, getting to one foot as #5 paced, circling Fink.

"And I don't doubt that. But would you let her die first?" 5 proposed. Fink readjusted himself to see 5. Sitting next to him in a chair was Cube, bound and gagged. Her eyes were teared up and she gazed at Fink in shame. Fink thought about 5's words, 'Make it here', the already broken skylight. It was a set-up. He'd been played. They had him right where they wanted him the whole time. He'd been herded here like a lamb to the slaughter, and they'd need not even toy with him as much as they did to beat him.

Fink considered the situation slowly, "What about Coin?" he finally asked.

"Coin?" 5 thought aloud. "You want money? Oh! Yes, this one's friend, the Bantam punk we caught. He knew a wee bit too much. He stuck his neck too far into other people's business and got it sliced off. I'm afraid he's already been quite dead for awhile now... as she will be if you don't cooperate."

Fink looked at Cube. Her big wet eyes. He grimaced. Finally, he closed his eyes and went limp, subdued.

"I'm sorry Cube..." he breathed "I love you too much." Fink reached into his pack and produced a piece of the record. #5 took it and examined it casually before turning back to Fink.

"The other piece too," 5 commanded. Fink was visibly shocked. "Those punks told us where they'd hid their piece of the record, and that you'd been there at the same time we were, and it wasn't where they said it would be when we looked. We know you have it. So cough it up." Fink took a minute to compute this, before taking his pack out again. He dug out the rest of the record, cursing all the while. "That's a good lad..." #5 commended him as he took the record from him. He then jumped out through the skylight and was gone.

Fink struggled to his feet and staggered over to Cube and, hands still shaking, untied her. As soon as she could, she shrugged off the ropes and tore off the gag, throwing her arms around him, crying.

"Oh Fink... They grabbed me as soon as we separated. I blew it... I'm sorry..." she wept.

Fink rubbed her back and squeezed her tightly, "It's alright. I'm just glad you're ok," he whispered.

"Coin..." she muttered distantly. "I can't believe he's really gone... Oh Fink, I was so scared. I wanted to shake my head, to tell you not to do it, but at the same time, I wanted to beg you, plead with you to save me. I just didn't know what to do..."

"It's ok..." he reassured her, cooing. "Come on. Let's go home." As they were leaving there was a click as Fink stepped on a strangely loose floorboard. Cube stopped, and raised her head to listen.

"Do you hear a watch alarm?" Cube asked. Fink's eyes grew wide.

biipbiipbiipbiipbiipbiipbiipbiip

Fink shoved Cube forward violently, and she rolled/flew/fell through the door and into the next room. In a consecutive motion, Fink closed the door behind her. Before it could click into place, there was an explosion, blowing the door off its hinges and sending Cube flying back while everything to either side of the shield was torched by a stampede of flame. Gum heard an Earth-shattering BOOM and watched from outside as the blast propelled Fink, just a tiny dot in her vision, out a window, starting to fall from 30 stories up.

"FINK!" Gum screamed up in horror. Through the ringing in his ears, he vaguely heard her call his name, but it barely registered. Fink's eyes were open wide, pupils dilated, his mouth slightly open in shock as he fell, flames streaming from his burning clothes behind him as he plummeted headfirst toward the river next to the building. Fink's catatonic trance slackened, and his eyes waned sleepily, then closed. Gum rushed to the shore as Fink's fiery body hit the choppy waters below with a splash.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fink's eyes fluttered open. The world was squares of white, perforated plaster framed in criss-crossing strips of plastic. In the corner of his vision, he could see part of a large, rectangular, fluorescent light fixture's textured plastic covering. He couldn't move. Everything hurt vaguely. He could feel bandages wrapped over him, save his eyes and a hole for his nose. He felt a casual pressure on his chest, and could sense the soft, repetitive sensation of breathing coming from it. Fink gazed up lazily at the ceiling tiles. The fluorescent lights hummed down at him.

"Unfamiliar ceiling..." he muttered languidly, his voice muffled by the bandages.

"Hmm?" a sleeping Cube lying on his chest murmured.

"Nothing," Fink whispered, closing his eyes again. They felt funny, dry but artificially wetted. They must have gotten scorched with the rest of him. The left one felt sore and must have been bruised or cut by something hitting it. The second utterance caught Cube's attention, rousing her from her sleep as it registered in her conscious mind this time.

"Fink?" she tested. "Are you awake?" She lifted her head up.

"Mmmrmph.." he answered, opening his right eye but keeping the left closed.

"I was worried," she leaned in and gently kissed his closed left eye. "You've been out for days. The doctors say your burns aren't that bad, nothing above 2nd degree, no real serious scarring. You broke damn near everything though."

Fink murmured again, closing his eye once more.

He opened it again as the door clicked open, "Cube, I came to tell you the aneasteisiologist is coming by, so-oh, is he up?" the nurse asked.

"Yeah," Cube nodded to her. She turned back to Fink, "You've got a real cool nurse. Piranha is a rudie part time. She's been sneaking me in to see you outside of visiting hours. Speaking of which..." Cube stood up and brushed herself off. "Damn, I can't believe you just woke up and I can't stay. We'll talk later." She leaned down and kissed his eye again. "Bye sweety, I love you..." she waved goodbye and went out the door, looking pained to have to leave. They watched her go, then Piranha proceeded to fiddle with Fink's IV and such.

"Your girlfriend's real nice," Piranha asserted, switching over to Japanese. "She's been sleeping at your side when she can." Fink watched her work. The only sign of rudism was her hair, which was wound into a series of tubes.

"So what do you skate in?" Fink felt curious.

She smiled, "White cut off waistline bell bottoms and a jacket that shows off my midriff and cleavage." She pulled down her neckline to demonstrate how she kept her jacket zipped. She buttoned her nurse's uniform back up. "They've got red and blue stars and shit all over them, like an American flag." She went back to work. "People tell me I look like I should be in a Lenny Kravitz video."

"I don't like him..." Fink muttered.

"Neither do I," she shook her head. "His music all sounds too tired stylistically. His clothes are cool though. Oh, that reminds me..." Piranha turned on the radio and spun the dial.

"-ET RADIO!" Professor K's voice boomed. 'Mischievous Boy' by Castle Logical started to play.

"Just in time," she smiled. Fink listened silently as she worked.

"What happened to my clothes?" Fink noticed he couldn't feel them on under the bandages.

"Had to take them off," she told him. "I think Cube has 'em. Fire wrecked them pretty bad though."

"Damn..." Fink sighed. "That shirt was hand-decorated. Took me forever. Now I gotta make another one." He thought silently some more. "Hey, who undressed me?"

"I did," Piranha said simply.

"So you've seen me naked? How embarrassing..." he closed his eyes.

"You've got nothing to be embarrassed about," Piranha said, flirty.

"I think I'm coming down with Florence Nightingale Syndrome." They both laughed.


	8. Ashes, Ashes

Gum sighed as she listened to Hideki Naganuma's "Let Mom Sleep". She was so bored. She just didn't feel like skating. She'd been so demotivated nowadays. Her tryst with lesbianism was short lived, only lasting a couple weeks. The whole thing left her feeling weirded out, even after it ended. She still felt uncomfortable around Mew.

It wasn't that she wasn't attracted to her; quite the converse actually, she really got her hot. She'd never realized how bisexual she was till she was with Mew. But though Mew turned her on, cared for her, understood her, treated her right, it just didn't feel the same as it did when she was with Fink. There was no love, Gum thought, though she wasn't sure what that even meant anymore. Relationships just looked so hopeless now, guy or girl. She'd lost all hope of success again, all the will to keep trying. If she couldn't make it work with Mew or Fink, it seemed like it could never work with anyone.

Mew and Cube made a much cuter couple anyway. They got together after Fink was through with Cube after 5 months. Gum nor anyone else knew the story of how they got together, but she guessed Mew must have tackled her in a similar manner. Gum hated to admit it, but the whole thing seemed to lend credence to Fink's thesis, "All women are inherently bi if you get them drunk enough". It seemed Mew and Cube was not a passing phase though. Apparently they were very happy together, not that Gum understood any of the English going between them.

Gum found herself missing her friend, now occupied, and more lonely now than ever. She'd been on again off again with Beat a few more times, but she'd only felt lonely and frustrated. More often she found herself single, and watching Fink a lot. She didn't know why, she missed him, but didn't want him back, seeing now how clearly messed up he was when it came to relationships. Nevertheless though, it just made her feel worse and she didn't feel comfortable actually interacting with him any more. She found herself just following him around a lot.

Fink didn't seem to care, he never seemed uncomfortable around her, though he didn't really interact with her either (Gum guessed that he must have known how it made her feel). He would talk to one of the others or occupy himself silently while Gum tagged along wordlessly behind him. Neither drew attention to it and no one else seemed to notice.

For Fink, it'd stayed life as usual. Gum hadn't really picked up on it since she couldn't understand anything he said, but Combo was very intelligent, and he and Fink had become good friends. Piranha had come and gone in 3 months (though she still hung out with the gang) and he was with a new girl now, though Gum couldn't remember her name. She was a Love Shocker, which meant they had to sneak around behind everyone's backs. He didn't try to hide it from Gum though, perhaps he didn't bother because he knew she wouldn't say anything out of reluctance to argue with him about it. They met during the middle of daytime, evening, and late night Jet Set Radio broadcasts, since they knew the others would be out during them.

Gum felt sick of this girl, she'd already been around longer than Piranha. She was very good looking, she had long green hair in a ponytail with a big pink bow, a very pretty face with big bright eyes and soft, supple lips. She had a gorgeous curved figure, a sexy thin waist, perfect rounded hips, perfect huge rack, perfect ass (Gum had run out of adjectives). She wore a pink tank top and pink 50's style poodle skirt torn off at the knees and slitted all the way up the sides, with a pink silk neckerchief, and bracelets all down her arms. She had a high, lilting, cute voice and seemed very young. Gum questioned if she was even 18 yet. Not that it mattered, she wouldn't be the first thing Fink did that wasn't legal, after all. She made Gum feel very uncomfortable about her own body, and since they always met in private, it seemed like all they ever did was fool around. That's what they were doing in the office right now, Gum felt sure.

She closed her eyes. She missed it. Fooling around. Sleeping and waking up next to him. Being loved and loving him. She didn't miss Fink maybe so much as she missed the love.

The office door opened suddenly, and Fink came out, putting one arm through his T-shirt and using the other to hold his unzipped pants up.

"Gum, what's going on?" he buttoned his fly and put his hat on.

"Huh? What?" Gum was dazed from being pulled out of her trance.

"The radio, turn up the radio," Fink instructed as he threw on his overshirt. His girlfriend was wandering out behind him, adjusting her top. Gum turned and switched the volume up. Professor K had lowered the volume on "Rock it On" to make some sort of announcement over it.

"That's right people, if you're in Benten right now, you better get your umbrellas cause a shit storm is coming your way. 'Seems the Noise Tanks hacked their files. They trashed the Tank's crib, and now they're tearing apart the town looking for the boys themselves. If I were a Tank, I'd find the nearest bus out of town! That weird gang's brought all their guns to bear, and I hear there's some strange brothers out there who are seriously tough hombres. The fires are spreading, so I'm gonna have to jet myself, but I'll leave the CD changers programmed to play you some hard-core music and I'll broadcast their radio frequency too. This ain't none of my business, but I gotta stick up for our audience, don't I?"

"Claudi!" Fink gasped. He quickly started to get his stuff together.

"Claudi? Who's Claudi Nova?" his girlfriend blinked.

"Sorry HB, I gotta go make sure a friend is safe," Fink opened his pack and examined his guns, making certain the clips were loaded and ready. He turned and put his arms around the girl. "You go home Heartbreaker, stay inside." He turned to leave.

"Fink!" Gum cried after him. "You know it's the Rhinos, it's too dangerous!"

He turned to face her, putting the pistols in his belt and tearing off his backpack strap to strap the M5K to his back, "I've got to go. Innocent people are in danger, and so is Claudi. Plus the Tanks were my friends once. Besides, the Rhinos are up to no good. Whatever Goji is scheming with the record must correspond to the renovations made on the Rokokku building. They've done too much, I've got to stop them." With no further discussion, Fink turned and left.

Gum tried to burn his image into her mind as he left, since this would most assuredly be the last time she saw him in one piece.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A huge man in a karate gi and taping roared as he single handedly grabbed a bus by the front end and picked it up, throwing it into a building. A weasley man strapped with explosives jumped up and down and laughed with glee as a chain of explosions ripped through the street and toppled buildings. Similarly adorned robots with bucket-like heads standing behind him jumped up and down waving their arms to mimic him. A man in a jetpack flew by, level with the second story windows, firing his machine gun into them as he passed. #5 stood still on a building and watched the carnage.

"Come out, come out wherever you are..." 5 sang under his breath. "What hole are you rats hiding in?" Two suits with SMGs patrolled a skybridge, looking in second floor windows on either side of the street. Out of one of the buildings behind them, a skater leapt out a window and did a flying kite 180 into the suits, knocking them over. The rudie decked out in night vision goggles and a partial gas mask leapt up onto the rail and ground down along the stairs, strafing fire from the M5K in his hand across the backs of a group of Rhinos.

"There's one of them!" Another suit cried, pointing.

"It's him!" 5 recognized, watching from the rooftop. "No you fools!" he called down to the Rhinos, but they didn't hear him. He growled and jumped down.

The skater dashed across the street, Rhinos closing in on all sides. He leapt onto the railing to grind back up the skybridge, firing an expertly aimed burst of fire at each Rhino, switching targets in less than a seventh of a second. The man in the jetpack flew by firing. The skater hopped off the rail and down to the street to grind the curb. The man in the karate gi did a roundhouse and the skater ducked as the blow went over him and took out a chunk of the building behind him. The rudie did a switch to grind backwards, unloading the rest of his clip on full auto. He was surprised to only hear metallic twangs as the bullets struck the martial artist. He turned to see the man now in front of him. He jumped and turned a 360 into a flying kick The kick struck the solar plexus, but it felt like hitting a wall, the skater came to a dead stop and fell to the ground. He looked up and saw why. The large man in the gi's head was dome-like with alien features.

"A robot!" he realized aloud. The automaton picked him up and threw him hard. The skater grabbed a lamppost in midair and swung around it to land on his feet.

"Catch!" a weasley voice called. The skater's eyes widened to see a Molotov cocktail flying toward him. To close to shoot or dodge, the skater quick gave his M5K a light underhand toss. The gun hit the bottle without breaking it, and the two bounced off each other to fall to the ground while the rudie jumped back out of the way before it exploded. The skater had done a huge backflip, landing crouched and sliding backward from the bomb's reach. As he did, a flash swept in front of him as 5 flicked the whip to lick right in front of the skater's face, slapping the goggles up and breaking the mask in two, the accessories falling off.

"Think losing the hat and adding some tech would fool me boy?" 5 asked.

"I was sorta hoping..." Fink suggested, backrolling softly over the hood of a car as it tried to ram him, instead smashing into the nearby karate bot. Fink turned and skated back to avoid 5's lightning whip.

"Attention all operatives, I am sending assassin number 3 as reinforcements. Equip fire-resistant suits if you approach," Fink heard broadcasted over "Sweet Soul Brother". Up ahead, a lamppost was bent across the street by... karate bot? Bullets bounded around Fink from SMGs. Fink jumped and did a forward flip, pulling out his pistols. He fired behind his path upside down to shoot his attackers. Fink landed hard on his back, then rolled out of the way as he looked up to see karate bot. The punch meant to crush him struck asphalt, smashing a crater. Fink rolled to his feet and jumped to the side as #2 flew overhead shooting down at him. 2 did a U-turn and stopped to hover facing Fink like a harrier. Fink dived under an abandoned truck and rolled to the other side, putting him in the middle of a group of Rhinos. Fink spun himself with his legs like a breakdancer in a capoera move, shooting Rhinos as he spun to his feet. Standing, he saw karate bot by the lamppost plodding slowly towards him. From the heap of wreckage, the karate bot hit by the car emerged barely scathed.

"Two of them!" Fink cried. He jumped to the side as a stick of dynamite landed next to him and blew up the truck, knocking Fink to the ground. #4 cursed and took out another as his robots ran toward the rudie. Fink waited as one approached, the rest stopping, spread around them, waiting to attack in turn. As the robot dove to tackle Fink, he stepped casually to the side. But as it hit the ground, the robot exploded violently, sending Fink flying.

"Kamikazes!" he coughed, getting up. He turned to skate away, one leaping to grab his leg as he did. Fink knocked it off by jumping up to grind a rail just before it blew, sending him flying again. Fink got back up and jumped back onto the embunkment to grind it around the corner onto the next street. Many of the buildings were in flames, and a gang of suits with metal backpacks down the street in a V. The one in lead seemed to sense Fink behind him, turning and blowing a searing jet of flame his way. Fink backslid and retreated around the corner to escape them man in the full gas mask and his flame-thrower brigade.

As he turned the corner, #2 flew into him unexpectedly. The two grappled for a fraction of a second as each pushed the other's gun to the side with one hand and misfired with the other. Fink fell onto his back and the man in the jetpack blew by. As he fell, he aimed his gun, looking straight up while horizontal. The gun blared as he emptied the clip of its last rounds, one bullet striking the assassin's jetpack, making a tiny hole. High-pressure gas erupted from the hole, sending 2 spiraling out of control and through a brick wall, an explosion coming from within the building moments later.

"#2 is down! Assassin #2 is down!" a panicked Rhino broadcasted.

"Ar-Are you sure?" the dispatcher questioned in disbelief.

"A positive on that," Fink recognized #5's voice.

"...Assassin #6 is on his way. Don't get caught up in any circuits," the dispatcher responded after a long pause.

Fink noted red dots dancing around him.

"Too slow!" he declared, whirling and shooting the rooftop riflemen with a pistol before they could draw a bead. Fink spun, then slid to the side and behind a parked car as HMG fire scattered around him. Fink kept his back to the car, reloading quickly as the Humvee's mounted gun tore apart the limousine. He rolled back over the hood of the car, aiming above him again as he nailed the gunner and the three Rhinos using the vehicle for cover in their barely exposed heads. He rolled back to his feet and slid backwards away from the car as #3 bathed it in napalm. He felt like he was hit by a bus as a karate bot roundhouse kicked him, sending him flying through a glass store window. He emerged, brushing bits of glass off of him.

As he did, a visible surge of energy pulsed through the telephone wires above him and blew off the contacts to swing towards him. Fink dodged the deadly live wire falling toward him and looked for the source. Down the street, a man in a strange suit with tuning-fork-like devices hooked up to a backpack in his hands standing by a guywire. The man flexed back his spine and arms, prongs roaring with a visible giant spark of electricity. He plunged the prongs into the ground and electricity surged through an underground wire, tearing up pavement as it came at Fink, who barely dodged.

#4 down the road held a lit stick of dynamite in his hand, waiting for the right moment to throw it. His eyes widened as the rudie skated right towards him. He held the dynamite up, trying to think of how to keep the skater back. Fink rolled right up to him and grabbed his arm, then proceeded to prod, push, and pad the man in precise locations with his other hand. Fink casually took a Molotov cocktail from the man's belt and nodded.

"Thanks!" he smiled, then skated away. #4 was frozen. He couldn't move. The speedy technique was a critical nerve block. Face, even, still stuck in place, he ordered his body, any part of it, to move as he listened to the fuse hiss as it shrank. His muscles gave no response, refusing to comply. The temporary paralysis had completely disabled him. The fuse burned down to the core and there was a huge explosion as the living bomb went off.

Fink skated then braked gradually toward #3, tossing the cocktail at him, "Catch!" he instructed. The flames hit the bottle and it burst, covering then man in flames, causing him to flail wildly. "Stop drop and roll!" Fink suggested. Seconds later, the flames made their way to the gas in the fuel tank, blowing the man to smithereens. "Too late," Fink shrugged.

He ducked as a lamppost went over his head and crashed into the building next to him, the karate bot swinging the 20 foot pole like it was light as a feather. From the other direction, #6 was running up behind him. Fink skated in front of the karate bot, who swung the telephone pole downward, smashing it into the ground. Fink ground up the pole toward the robot as #6 fired a surge of electricity after him. The electricity struck the pole as Fink jumped off it and over karate bot, surging up the lamppost and into the robot, which shuddered, then fell apart in a heap. Fink turned his side and shot back at #6, hitting a nearby fire hydrant. Water sprayed out and hit #6. As it hit the prongs, a strong current went through the water, frying everything it touched, namely #6.

Fink began to skate backwards as the kamikaze bots approached. He waited for them to jump, then dove and slid under them, the explosion sending Fink tumbling and taking out the flame-thrower flunkies behind him. Fink started to get up, then flopped back down and rolled over as the remaining karate bot flipped a car over to land where he'd just been. Fink got up and did an aerial as #5 slashed at his legs with his whip.

"Who are you?" 5 demanded. Fink leaned back as a sideswipe decapitated the karate bot next to him. "Answer me!" Fink slipped to the side as a downward strike missed him. The end of the metal whip barely touching the forming lake behind Fink sent an electric current up it and into #5, who convulsed, before falling to the ground. Fink skated over, honestly curious about how bad 5 had gotten it. 5 was shaking as smoke lofted up from him. He looked up at Fink through bleary eyes. "Who... who are you?" he breathed. It was then that his eyes fell upon Fink's left shoulder, exposed, his shirtsleeve ripped off in the fight. It bore an old tattoo, 'WEPON 0038'. "Haha... hahahahaha!" #5 started to laugh. "The missing WEPON... the last survivor of the super-soldier bio-engineering program..." he choked out, practically in hysterics.

"Shh..." Fink put a finger to his lips to demand silence. "I am what I appear to be," he whispered. "I needn't be anything more."

"Fink!" Claudia called, peering up from the manhole leading to the sewer she'd been hiding in.

"Claudi!" Fink lost all interest in #5 and skated off toward the girl.

"But you're..." 5 moaned. He stretched out his arm vainly, still on his back, to reach for Fink. "Wait... come back..." he muttered. His arm flopped limply to the ground. Fink paid him no attention.


	9. Mountains and Molehills

"How did we come here? How did we come this far? What decisions took us here, and where will they lead us in the future? Are we right in our actions? Is there a true 'right'? What are we doing? The are questions a so-called free spirit should not be concerned with. Yet at many points, a rudie can't help but wonder, what're we-" Fink turned. Gum just blinked at him. It had been a long time since he'd really spoken to her, and she wasn't sure how to react to this strange and sudden tangent. Fink closed his eyes and laughed to himself. He shook his head and waved his hand at her. "Never mind," he whispered. " 's weather. Makes me sentimental." He turned away and went back to gazing absently at the dark clouds above. Gum blinked again, still transfixed in the same position, then turned away, trying unsuccessfully to forget the weird remark. 'Super Brothers' by Guitar Vader played over Jet Set Radio, but it didn't match their moods. Fink sat on the windowsill with Gum sitting on the couch nearby. The others were spread throughout the garage, similarly sprawled. The dark clouds that'd surprised all the meteorologists suggested rain ahead for sure, so no one had bothered going out, and they all felt pretty bored.

Suddenly the music stopped, "Yo this is the Professor giving you rudies a heads up, hahaha! But I ain't talkin to just any rudies though, this is a very special message for the GGs!"

Mew's head turned, "Did he just talk to US!"

"That's right, I'm talking to you GG!" Professor K coincidentally reiterated. "I just got this from my informant. The renovations are complete on the Rokokku building and there's gonna be some bad trouble going down on the roof. What? You think all those dark clouds came from a low pressure front? Hahaha! Apparently, that record Goji wanted is called "The Devil's Contract", and has instructions for summoning a demon to make an unholy bargain! Goji probably wants to make a deal to take over the world! You GGs are the only one's who've been able to stand up to them, so it's up to you to stop em!"

"Wow, I can't believe Professor K, master of funk, coolest of the cool, would even SPEAK to us..." Gum clasped her hands together, looking starry-eyed.

"All of the Rokokku are in a secret meeting right now, so we can count that none of them are listening in. Me and my people are spread throughout the city to do what we can, but we need your help! There are 4 contact points to their security system, so one of you has to be in place to cut each, I'll broadcast when. But first someone needs to cut the main link-up to the facility. We know they're using a lot of tech, so we're disabling the power plant. Hopefully the Rokokku building generator won't be able to power it all, but we need two of you there to help. Finally, we need a person at the East and South telephone lines to cut them at the right moment. If my numbers are right, that leaves one of you to kick in the front door and confront Goji..."

"I'm going!" Combo put his thumb to his chest, "It's our score, me and Cube's."

"Hey, I've gotten more mangled than anyone 'round here on account of that creep; I'm going, so you can kiss my black ass. Er..." Fink did his embarrassed laugh routine, "I've been hanging around you too much..."

"That's enough, Fink is going," Tab decided. "Now hush up, we need to hear this."

"-goes down at midnight," Professor K had continued, "So that only leaves us less than 45 minutes to get everything together!"

"Move out!" Tab shouted. They had been preparing since K said he wanted their help. Tab assigned rolls quickly and the gang split and scattered.

"Time is running out!" Professor K declared generically. "Can the counter-culture on the fringe of society save all civilization?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"EMP active," one broadcasted.

"Jamming frequency initiated," another conspirator confirmed in step.

"Disabled power facility!" an exasperated sounding voice broadcasted after a long pause.

"Hit the telephone lines now!" Professor K ordered. Gum sat crouched by the contact wires. Her nerves were on end. "Now the security points!" K barked after allowing the telephone people a minute. Gum clipped the wires, then took off around the building as fast as she could. She huffed and puffed and pushed herself hard as she blazed through the street. She had to make it in time...

She arrived at the front door, finally. It seemed Fink had literally kicked them in, the glass all shattered with one of the double door's metal frame broken and the other bent. She entered the huge lobby to see nearly a dozen suits, badly beaten, passed out, and strewn about the marble room with lush tropical plants. With a loud "Oof!" and "Ugh!" one more was thrown over the top of the stairs to bounce once and then limply slide a little ways down the steps.

"Fink!" Gum called out for no response. She hurriedly climbed the stairs to the upper lobby. There was a ding as the elevator on the other side of the huge grand fountain started to close. "Fink, wait!" Gum cried. She leapt onto the fountain to grind the edge, but the sandstone disagreed with the skates and she didn't get anywhere. Abandoning the idea, she jumped into the fountain and waded through it, the airborne jets of water soaking her. "Fink!" she called one last time. A hand came out the closing crack of the elevator doors and pushed it open. Gum's skates cut through the water till she hopped out the other side, entering the elevator next to Fink as he let the door close.

"Wasn't 'specting company," Fink noted.

"Thought... I wouldn't... make it..." Gum wheezed, hands on her knees.

"Look at you, you're drenched!" he laughed.

"Didn't... want you... to hafta... go it alone..." she gasped.

Fink smiled, "Thanks Gum. Our chances are better this way, and the thought means a lot to me."

Gum looked up into his kind eyes and her heart froze, "Fink, I..." She paused. Gum closed her eyes.

_She stood abruptly and grabbed his head in her hands and pulled him close to kiss him deeply. He let out a muffled cry at first, which melted into a moan of pleasure. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and caressed her gently._

_"Fink... I love you... I've always loved you..." she muttered between kisses. "I just needed to tell you, in case-"_

_Fink stopped her with a long kiss, "Gum..." he said as he pulled away. "I still love you too. If we die, we die together."_

Gum opened her eyes from the daydream.

"You what?" Fink asked, blinking.

"I-" she began.

"Shh... wait... you hear that?" Fink listened. A loud, distant voice over a PA was speaking above them. It finished and another soon began.

"Amp ready," it declared.

"Bass ready," another followed.

"Treble ready," a different voice checked off as the doors opened and the pair stepped out onto the roof. There was a large, textured, strange black cylindrical platform 40 feet in diameter, which the rudies stepped onto. A large, cylindrical glass booth was in the middle. There were two smaller glass cylinders with a metal spike at the bottom at the end of a metal bar on either side of the booth. There was a metal framework tower a little removed from the roof on either side. It was dark and hard to see as an old voice spoke.

"Initiate the process!" Lights came on all around them. Inside the central booth was Goji Rokokku, surrounded by deluxe mixing equipment. There was a sudden hard jerk as the platform started rising up from the roof. "So some insects are here to make a last ditch effort to stop me, eh? You are fortunate, you will get to see history made firsthand. If you live that long..."

"Why! Why the oppression, why the contract?" Fink demanded.

"The demon will make my wish come true, the wish to make all people on this Earth totally lame! Then I will be the coolest man alive!" the old man laughed maniacally.

"_That's the craziest thing I've ever heard_..." Gum thought to herself.

"Of course! It all makes sense! Such and obvious an brilliant plan! I should have known!" Fink shook his fist dramatically. Great giant gears between the platform and the towers began to churn. Goji slowly lowered the expertly restored "Devil's Contract" onto the mixing board. There was a sudden shift as the platform ceased rising and began to rotate. The metal bars lowered so the metal spikes touched the platform. As they did, a pulsing rhythm started to play.

"It's a giant record!" Fink realized.

"Yes! Built to the contract's specifications! Goji cackled. Gum had to duck and Fink did a limbo move to lean beneath the metal bar as it passed. Goji's record played an eerie Italian opera. He scratched and mixed the eerie wailing to the electric rhythm and pulsing melody to form a hot beat. The rudies grasped the next beam to be dragged behind it. Fink skated over to the booth and pulled out an iron pipe from his backpack. He struck it, to no effect. Goji laughed. Fink pulled out a pistol and shot the glass, to equally little results.

Gum suddenly heard and indistinguishable electronic sound from behind her and turned, and was picked up by the throat by a cold, metal hand. Gum gagged, prompting Fink to turn. Floating in air holding Gum was a giant robotic version of the Rokokku Rhino. Fink kicked a wallie off the booth to grind the metal beam, leaping at its end to strike the robo rhino with his pipe, Fink landing carefully so he would not jump off the platform. The monster barely felt the attack, throwing Gum into Fink. Fink felt himself being pulled outward. The record was speeding up, increasing centrifuge. As they picked themselves up from a heap, the rhino roared and stomped its foot in midair.

"He's gonna charge!" Fink yelled. They both dived to the side as it rushed forward and embedded its horn in the booth, Goji ignoring the distraction. "Man, I'll bet that thing uses a lot of double As" Fink joked.

"That' it!" Gum snapped her fingers. "Fink, those towers are powering this thing, we've gotta bust them up!"

"I'm always up for smashing something!" Fink cheered enthusiastically, brandishing his pipe. He took off toward the edge of the record, jumping off as he reached the gears. Fink landed on a big gear, waited for it to rotate him to the other side, then jumped onto another and repeated the jump to land on the tower. Gum was somewhat awed, a mistake would mean falling to one's death, and Fink busted the hard trick without a moment's hesitation. He started to bash the tower to pieces with his pipe. Gum waited for the record to rotate her over to the other side and leapt onto a wire leading to the other tower, then began to stomp the bars of the tower till they bent and broke. Robo rhino pulled its horn out of the booth, levitated over to Fink and opened its mouth. Fink leapt off the tower onto another gear as a searing jet of flame reduced the tower to slag.

"Whoa, and you can cook and egg with it too!" Fink exclaimed, jumping onto the record. Gum broke another support and the tower began to creak and groan. She jumped off to grind across the wire. The robo rhino became motionless and fell down into the clouds below. As Gum's tower collapsed, it yanked the wires out with it. Gum dove to grab the edge of the record as her support fell out from under her, holding on with one hand as gravity and centrifuge tried to throw her off.

"Gum!" Fink shouted. He dashed and slid over to the edge of the record and grabbed Gum's arm just before she fell. He grabbed her arm with his other hand, but found centrifuge was making him slide toward the edge and he had to let go to hold onto the record with one hand. The needles were getting close to the center of the record.

"It's almost time!" Goji laughed joyously.

"Fink, I'm slipping!" Gum shrieked.

"I won't let you fall!" Fink gritted his teeth.

"You have to let go, stop him before it's too late!" Gum cried.

"I'd rather be a nerd with you than hip without you..." he strained. Gum's mouth dropped, tears formed in her eyes.

There was a crackle of static as the needle hit the center of the record. The record slowed to a stop as the music died. Fink pulled Gum back up onto the platform. Nothing else happened.

"No! Why isn't it working!" Goji threw a tantrum of disbelief. Suddenly, he had to shield himself as the window cracked by the rhino shattered as Fink hit it with his pipe. Dropping the pipe, he grabbed Goji and dragged him out through the hole and pressed him up against the booth wall.

"Cause it was probably just an old indie record, a hoax, ya kook," Fink punched him playfully in the shoulder.

Goji covered his face with his arms, "Please forgive me! I'm just an eccentric old man who wanted to be cool!"

"You don't force people to think you're cool, they're just supposed to admire you, that's what cool is," Fink went on like a cheesy after-school special. "You're not supposed to try to be cool, caring what other people think is the anti-cool," he shook Goji hard now sternly, then threw him to the ground. "Now no more being shady, cause you know I'll beat your ass if you are, right?" Goji nodded meagerly. The record locked back into place on the roof. "Good," Fink nodded and walked with Gum to the elevator, the sea of workers and armed guards that had formed parting to make room for them.

Gum had trouble saying anything the rest of the night. The whole thing had been too weird for her.

When they left the building, it was raining.

"Huh..." Fink looked up and held out a hand to catch the droplets. "I guess it was a low pressure front after all."


	10. The Last Last One

"JET SET RADIO!" Professor K howled. The familiar tune of BB Field's 'Funky Radio' set everyone's head bobbing.

Gum was skating down the street leisurely behind Fink and his latest squeeze. The girl wore the blue blazer and plaid skirt of her old high school, with a pair of boy's pants underneath. She had a metal chain hanging from her belt and suspenders hanging down at her sides. There was a silver spiked black leather collar tight around her neck. Her lipstick, nail polish, and eyeliner were all black. Her hair was tied back in pigtails. Gum didn't know where he'd met her, but she didn't skate or paint very good, which lead her to guess that she was an amateur or Fink had converted her to rudism.

As the song came to the bridge, Fink turned around and started skating backwards as he grooved, singing along. Gum and Fink's girl laughed. It was a good performance. As the bridge ended, Fink skated backwards around a corner and bumped into somebody, coming to a stop. He watched as the girls turned the corner and grimaced. Fink turned slowly.

"This is GR territory now!" Goji declared. He was on skates. His bald head was mostly covered though by a brown fedora. He had classic earphones with the smaller pads, with a cord and everything leading down to a Walkman on his hip. He was wearing brown dress pants that were all torn up with a white T-shirt with a white long sleeved overshirt unbuttoned over it. The cuffs were unbuttoned and the collar up, and it was torn all the way down one side. It was covered in hand scrawled lyrics in black fabric marker. His skates were black and white. Black fingerless gloves adorned his hand. Behind him were stuffy looking ex-Rhinos dressed in garments copying members of GG, Poison Jam, Noise Tanks, and Love Shockers, all on skates as well.

"Oh tell me you're joking," Fink sighed. The GRs approached menacingly. "All right then, let's have it out," Fink said, putting his hands up in a fisticuffs style and hurriedly shifting his feet in a rope-a-dope fashion.

"Uh... Fink..." his girlfriend grabbed his arm and clung close to him.

"Ahem," a familiar voice coughed. Fink turned to see surrounding them on the other side in skates were a Karate Bot and Robo Rhino and #5, dressed in a red and white Hawaiian shirt, baggy cargo shorts, pink rimmed glasses, and his head wrappings.

"Oh." Fink stopped moving. "Damn."

"Fink! Catch!" a voice suddenly yelled from above. Everyone looked up to see two figures standing on top of the building next to them. They were only silhouettes placed before the burning sun. One of them tossed something down toward them. Fink reached up and caught the long, thin object. He spun and there was a noise and the flash of gleaming metal in the sunlight. When he stopped, it could be see that he held a katana in his hand, the sheath in the other. He was still posed as he was after making the cut. Everything was still for a moment before the heads fell off of the robots and #5's whip split down the middle. Suddenly, one of Goji's men wobbled, then fell down. Then another. Then Goji himself. All the Rokokku's in front of Fink lost their balance and fell down, the front wheels of their skates sliced off. Fink straightened himself out and resheathed his katana, turning to face the downed 'rudies'.

Fink bent over to put his hands on his knees as he read the lyrics on Goji's shirt, "Queen is great, Freddy Mercury was a God." He stood back up. "But you're supposed to do YOUR OWN thing. You actually looked pretty cool in that suit and scarf. You need a better handle and gang name, and go muscle in on part of Kogane or something." Fink leaned in to whisper the last part. "And get a new running crew. These guys are totally lame. 'Cept #5. He's cool." Fink stood again. 'GR' gradually got up and collected itself.

"Oh man," Goji slapped his knee. "That was totally hazy."

"Shady..." an ex-suit leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"Shady," Goji corrected himself. The ex-suit put a hand to his head and sighed. The GRs staggered off on their broken skates, #5 watching Fink over his shoulder as they left.

_"That Man_..." #5 thought to himself. "_His tailored mind and body are cultivated to perfection. He could take on any physical or mental task with ease... So what does he do? He strives to be an artist and a lover... He pursues matters of the soul."_

The REAL rudies made their way over to the side of the building. Two rudies were descending the fire escape. The one was wearing a long black trenchcoat with a white shirt buttoned up only halfway and the collar up. He had a black tie hanging very loosely around his neck and his black hair was wild. The other was wearing an olive colored old duster with a variety of colorful patches sewed on, some sort of retro anime insignia T-shirt, distressed bell bottom jeans, very curly red hair, and a black top hat with a piece of holly in the band.

"Well if it isn't the college bounds, back at last!" Fink laughed non-chalantly.

"Hey man, it's been awhile," the one in the top hat said as he slid down the retracting ladder to jump to the ground.

"It sure has," Fink nodded.

"Hold on a minute Musashi Yojimbo," Gum interrupted. "You mean to tell me this whole time you've been some sort of martial arts blade master, and we've been fighting tanks and helicopters with PAINT?" she stared at Fink furiously, who stared back at her blankly for about a half a minute. He finally shrugged. Gum threw up her arms in frustration. Fink went back to his subjects.

"Girls, this is Bandit and The Great Michael" he motioned to top hat and trenchcoat respectively. They waved and the girls waved back. "So are you finally through with school?"

"Matt is. I'm considering another 4 years," Bandit affirmed.

"Blech..." Fink made a face. "I couldn't stand school long enough to finish my sophomore year, I don't know how you two can volunteer to take more."

"Wait, his name's Matt?" Fink's girlfriend pointed at The Great Michael, who nodded. "So is his middle name Michael?"

"Nope," Fink shook his head.

"Then why is he called that?" the girl was clearly confused.

"Because he's The Great Michael," Fink explained matter-of-factly as the three looked at her funny, as though it made perfect sense. Fink's girlfriend pondered this for a moment, then stammered and paused to think again.

"Ok..." she conceded to act as though she understood, though she clearly didn't.

"Thanks for the loan-out, by the way," Fink handed the sword back to The Great Michael, who hooked it into a loop sewn into the interior of his coat apparently for specifically that.

"Are you all sweet with that too?" Fink's girl asked.

"No, not particularly," TGM shook his head.

She furrowed her brow, "Then why would you just carry a sword around?"

"Why wouldn't you?" Bandit shrugged as the three stared at her funny again. The girl lowered and shook her head. "Don't worry about it," Bandit turned back to Fink. "People'd best beware, we keep it sharp just for Clock Fink."

"Bandit, don't use my full handle in front of people..." Fink did his embarrassed laugh.

"Whatever..." the girl was exasperated by the trio's collective weirdness. "Honey, I've got my hair appointment," she tugged on Fink's arm.

"Huh? Oh yeah, whatever. You go on," Fink waved dismissingly. The girl seemed annoyed. It seemed unlike Fink to be such a guy, Gum noted.

"Well does your quiet friend want to come?" the girl asked.

It took Gum a moment to realize she meant her, "Huh?"

"Yeah Gum, why don't you give me and the guys time to catch up," Fink requested. Gum didn't really want to, but she complied anyway. "Bye honey," Fink gave his girlfriend a hug before they skated off. The three watched them go silently.

"I think that's the first time you've blown off a girl for us and not vice-versa," Bandit noted once they were out of earshot.

"Yeah, well..." Fink shrugged.

"She's pretty cute," The Great Michael nodded. "But then I guess I've never seen you with one that wasn't. Who's the other one? A groupie-ex?"

"Yeah..." Fink sighed. "Seems like half of 'em stalk me like this, at least for a little while. She's been at it for awhile now though. She's starting to weird the current one out, she's getting all jealous/paranoid and shit. I think I'm going to tell the next one she's my sister or something if she keeps this up." Fink sighed again, "I don't know..."

"So how long have you been dating this one?" Bandit asked.

"Six weeks, give or take," Fink shook his hand.

"So how many kids are you gonna have?" TGM smirked.

"Eh..." Fink put his hands behind his head and looked up and away off to the side as he tapped a foot.

"Eh?" the Great Michael blinked. "You don't love her more than life itself?"

"Eh..." Fink repeated. "...I'm kinda getting sick of her..."

"After only six weeks?" Bandit's jaw dropped.

"Do you have a replacement lined up?" the Great Michael asked.

Fink was silent for even longer this time, "...I'm kinda thinking about getting back together with one of my ex-es." The Great Michael and Bandit gasped and held each other melodramatically. "Oh shut up..." Fink blushed, looking away.

"Seriously though, that's not like you," The Great Michael commented as the two let go of each other.

"Yeah, that's a first isn't it?" Bandit asked.

"I think so..." Fink muttered. "No, there was another one recently, but she came and went and came and went again already. That was a little different. I didn't get to break up with her myself, I wasn't finished. This one's different, it's been over, I've called it done. I moved on and I've been with others and enjoyed them and ignored her. But suddenly new prospects don't hold the appeal they used to. It isn't a comparison thing, she wasn't so incredible or anything, I just suddenly want to be with her again, and new mates, while interesting, look unfulfilling.

"There's gotta be a reason..." The Great Michael couldn't believe it.

"I dunno..." Fink sighed. "We didn't break up in the usual fashion exactly either, she sort of brought it on herself, so that's probably why... but..."

"But..." Bandit prompted after Fink was silent for awhile.

"...But..." Fink sighed again. "It might be..."

"That it's actually love this time?" TGM suggested.

"Maybe. It's easier to blow the concept off. If it really is, it's kinda scary," Fink confessed. "For the first time since high school, there's a girl I want and I'm not 100 confident I can have her. And that fucking sucks, cause confidence is my whole method."

"Did you dump her badly?" Bandit asked.

"Naw," Fink shook his head. "...Yeah," he changed his mind. "...No... I don't know. Kinda, I guess. She did take it pretty hard, especially at the time. It wasn't unfair. Our relationship wasn't what she pretended it was, it wouldn't have worked out as things were. That's what else makes me leery."

"Little's certain in life," The Great Michael asserted. "So the reasons were wrong. So what? You can change the foundation, and yeah, it'll be different, but it'll still be yours and hers relationship. Things may not work, but why be malcontent when you can try for what you want?"

"One more thing..." Fink thought. "I don't want to have to sell myself to her this time. I know I can probably talk her into it, but I want her to take me without me having to trick her or win her over or whatever." He closed his eyes. "She wanted so badly for someone to really care about her. Maybe I want to actually do that, and not just fulfill her need fooling her. And I think I want her to really care about me, and not just what I can do for her. For what may be the first time, my happiness is deterrent on how she feels WITHOUT my influence. And I actually want it that way..." There was a long silence before Fink had an embarassed laugh. "Forget this shit. Let's go pour food-dye in the hot wax machine at the car wash." The three skated off. Around the corner, in the alley she'd been eavesdropping from, Gum continued to sit, trying to figure out how she felt.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was late when Fink skated into the garage, whistling. Gum closed the fridge and turned to watch him glide in. It was about 45 minutes from the end of the night's last Jet Set Radio broadcast.

"Where're your friends?" she asked.

"They went home to see their folks. I swear, for delinquents, those two are such mama's boys," he replied. "What're you doing in?"

"I just came in for a drink," Gum lied. She'd been waiting for him to come back all night. Fink skated over to the fridge and fished out some leftovers, carrying them over to the counter to do his gourmet thing, soup them up. Gum stood in the kitchenette corner behind his back, turning the cap on a bottle back and forth.

"So you'll probably be spending a lot of time with them now, huh?" Gum prodded after a long silence.

"Yep," he answered simply. "I might sorta break away, at least for awhile. Do our own thing."

"So you'll be leaving GG?" Gum ventured.

"Hmm..." Fink closed his eyes and lowered his head. "I dunno... maybe. The GGs have been the most amicable gang experience I've had aside from those two, but they really are just replacements."

"You'll..." Gum was nervous. "...You'll be missed."

"I'll still see Combo around," he waved dismissingly.

Gum was silent for awhile before she could force out a whisper loud enough for him to hear, "I'll miss you too." Fink froze. His lips parted and his face became emotional, she could see from his 3 quarters profile. He became solemn and looked down.

"Gum... I..." he stammered and stopped. She watched wordlessly as he was momentarily motionless. He turned suddenly to look at her, very seriously. "Gum... I think I'd like to try things again with you. Her heart jumped. She had known what he wanted, what he was going to say, but it still somehow shocked her to hear him say it. "I want to be with you." His face became sad once more. "I mean that. I really mean that," he insisted desperately. "I don't want to give our relationship another shot, I don't want you 'back'. I want to start over, do things right this time." He looked down, "I want to be with you the way two people are meant to be together. I don't want to just make things work, I want them to be right."

Gum carefully backed up to a stool to sit, "Why did you leave? Why do you always leave?"

Fink grabbed a chair and pulled it over so its back was to her and straddled it, "I don't actually love," he sighed, leaning forward resting his head in his arms, resting on the top of the back of the chair. "I know what it is, I think, but I'm not sure I've ever felt it for a girl I was with. I say I do and that's wrong, I know. I let me fool myself and I fool them. But I do it for them. It's all selfish, I won't pretend it's not. I 'love' a woman to make her happy, because making a good woman happy is what makes me happy. I know inside that I'm not right for them, but for a brief while I can be. I see a little sister who feels repressed and overshadowed, a highschooler who feels like there are no mature guys, a kitten who feels lost in the world, a nurse who's afraid happiness only exists in the absence of pain, an oyster who's afraid that the world will never treat her right. I want to show them happiness, for awhile at least. I'm greedy, I guess. I see a beautiful girl and I want to be the one for her. But I can't be the one for everyone, so I play somebody's 'one' for awhile, then move on; tide them over, let them know he's possibly out there. Suddenly though, I see other girls, and I want to be the one for them, but I know I'm probably not, and pretending has no luster. Gum, I want to be yours. I don't know that I am, that I can be, but I want to. I don't want to play fill in, I want to actually try and shift and change and become that person. I don't love you Gum, I don't think I've ever loved. But I want to try, and love you some day."

Gum leaned forward and hugged her knees, "How can we be sure that that's enough? How can we know if it will work."

Fink shook his head, "We can't. We can only work at it and hope" He put a hand on her thigh, and she took his hand in hers. "It's a risk Gum. A big one, with no illusions. I want to do this again with total honesty and openness. Gum got up and Fink shifted so he was sitting normally, and she straddled his knee to hug him around the neck, Fink putting his arms around her in response. They were both very scared, both crying a little.

"I didn't love you either," Gum whispered, "But... but I might. Or I may be able to... but I... I don't know." They both held each other silently for a long while.

Gum felt herself being lifted. She must have fallen asleep... Fink carried her into the office and set her down on the bed, then laid next to her. He cradled her, intertwined in each other's arm, cuddling. Like lovers. In the bed they had once shared in what seemed simultaneously like moments and aeons ago.

"Do you think there's any hope for us?" Gum mewed.

"I don't know," Fink replied honestly. "But I hope there is."

Gum let out a pleased hum, "I hope so too." Not at peace, but peacefully happy, sleep overcame them quickly.

_Fin_

...AND AN END TO ALL THINGS...


End file.
